Life's a Beach
by Monster Mads
Summary: A fully-certified MI6 spy, seventeen-year-old Alex has a lot of fun to catch up on. However, as his temporary guardian, Wolf isn't going to make it easy for him. Evidently, neither is Fate. Old enemies rise from the ashes, Alex and K-unit take turns parenting each other, Wolf struggles with his psychotic ex, and everybody learns something new. T for swearing, themes and violence.
1. Negotiations

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* * *

**Life's a Beach**

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Chapter 1

**Negotiations**

Alex was staring across at Jack, trying to keep his gaze steady. Despite being older than him, her expression was more childish in the way that her mouth was pressed into a firm pout and her arms were crossed over her chest angrily. He was trying to look at her innocently, but Jack was having have none of it. She'd practically taught him that look.

"What the hell is this?" she demanded, pointing at something behind Alex. He turned, slowly and deliberately, as though he didn't already know what was there. Armed with semi-automatic guns and dark shades, the six or so men were dressed from head to toe in black, faces devoid of any emotion. One stepped forward, saluting briefly and stating in a low voice,

"Ma'am. We have been instructed to keep a close watch on Agent Rider. Please excuse the intrusion."

He then seamlessly moved back into the formation. Jack was sure that if they all stood directly in a straight line, she wouldn't have been able to tell there was more than one. His choice of words missed her in the moment of anger, but in truth, Alex had been officially employed by MI6 two days after he turned sixteen, and was now valued for something other than his youth. He worked as a spy, having accepted that going back to how things used to be was just wishful thinking, and at seventeen years old, his eleventh year in secondary school and just a year away from being able to live on his own, he completed mission after mission with something developed since birth – pure, unadulterated skill. Alex Rider was still a secret weapon – in the sense that, well… he'd never failed a mission. Ever.

"I will _not,"_ she responded, stamping her foot on the pavement. Alex was rubbing the bridge of his nose, willing the headache he felt beginning in his temples back. It was a not much more than a dull throb at the moment, but he was sure that if it continued he'd be forced to give up and leave the bodyguards to deal with her fury.

"Jack," he started slowly, taking the hand away from his face to stare pleadingly into her eyes, "please don't make this difficult. I've already tried multiple times to convince them to leave, and they're set in their ways. Please just let me – _us – _into the house."

"No," Jack said stubbornly, taking a step back and pulling the open door closed for effect. She raised her chin, American instincts jumping out in her overreaction. She couldn't understand why his last mission had had this kind of effect – Alex had been making enemies since the age of fourteen, and he'd been fine with the minimal watch MI6 kept on him ever since. All of a sudden things were too much to handle for him? She'd been informed that Alex was at least one of their top agents. He was fit, agile, intelligent, and experienced. He didn't need to be "babied" by these wannabes in black. As far as Jack was concerned, Alex could probably take every single one of them down using a different method without leaving permanent injury in about… oh, seven point two seconds?

"Alex! This is not what we decided. 'Normal' does not include having six clones following you around day-to-day. If they won't leave, you're sleeping outside."

Immediately, the six men turned around and began pulling things from the trunk of the dark car they'd pulled up in. One started to unfold a tent as the next began turning on a portable barbecue. The one beside him moved to pull out a large chunk of meat from a cooler, but he was stopped by Jack's frustrated cry.

"No! This is not happening! All of you leave, or I'm calling the cops!" The men turned to look at her blankly.

"With all due respect, ma'am, there is no point. We outrank the police stationed in this area."

Jack stared at him for a moment before giving up, throwing her hands into the air. "Forget it, I'm not arguing with you people. Alex, get in the car – _our _car," she growled as the two pairs of smartly-dressed triplets moved to put away the camping gear.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked, even though he had a good idea of what she was thinking.

"To see Alan Blunt," she replied easily, flipping her long red hair over her shoulder and moving toward the small silver car parked in the driveway. At least the drones had had the sense to park on the street rather than behind her car and block her escape route – although it was a given that they would follow.

Ten minutes later, Jack, Alex, and the six overdressed James Bond look-alikes entered the Royal and General Bank. Alex nodded at the touchy-looking security guard, and a flicker of recognition flashed in his hidden eyes before he nodded back, indicating his approval. They stepped into the elevator, but Jack jammed her finger into the close-door button enough times to close off contact before they could throw themselves into the confined space. Benign music blared behind them, completely contradicting Jack Starbright's furious mood. She was little less than fuming, and Alex found himself picturing her with steam coming out of her ears, face red as a tomato. About a second after the mental image, he was shaking his head.

_I really have to stop watching Bugs Bunny in the mornings. It's messing with my head._

They stepped out onto the floor of their destination, Jack's heals clicking quickly on the granite floors. Alex followed behind her calmly, running a hand through his sandy hair as his only telltale sign of distress. He'd just left this place a half an hour ago, and wasn't exactly eager to be back. Predictably, Alan Blunt was exactly where he'd been when Alex had last seen him, although there _was_ onedifference – Tulip Jones now stood on the left side of his desk, rather than the right. _So they __**move? **_Alex thought sarcastically. _That's amazing. Almost like real people._

Alan Blunt didn't look up when they walked in – he'd probably heard the heals approaching minutes ago and worked out what had happened in his head. Even after Jack snapped her fingers impatiently, he didn't say a word or acknowledge their presence otherwise. It was Alex who finally broke the silence, turning towards the door.

"Well, I'm glad we had this little chat, but I really _must _be going–"

"Sit down, Alex," Jack and Mrs. Jones said at the same time. He reluctantly took a seat in one of the chairs facing Blunt's desk, Jack following suite. Finally, Alan Blunt let out a long-suffering sigh and looked up, his tired eyes betraying nothing more than just that – exhaustion. Somehow, Alex decided, he seemed more tired than usual.

"May I help you, Alex, Miss Starbright?" he deadpanned. Jack immediately broke out into screeching, making Alex wince and sink into the chair, humming the _Bugs Bunny_ theme song under his breath to try and drown out the yelling.

"You may, yes!" she huffed. "Alex just pulled up to the house in a dark car, and now six men in black won't stop following him around! Alex says they're there for his protection, but I think it's completely stupid – _with all due respect_, Mr. _Blunt, _I think we both know Alex can take care of himself. However, if you really feel its necessary, the _least _you could do is ask them to keep _inconspicuous!_"

On this word, Jack pointed behind her at the door, not bothering to look where she was even pointing. True to her words, the six men were vigilantly standing outside the door. Upon being discovered, they began to drift away from the frame so they were out of site. Alex resisted the urge to throw his face into his hands. _Moving out of our line of site isn't the same as not being there, guys, but nice try._

Alan Blunt's heavily-lidded eyes stayed the same. It was unnerving how he managed to stare that long without blinking, but after a moment he spoke, breaking Alex away from his fascination at the man's freakish ability.

"As you know, Miss Starbright, Alex has just returned from a rather complicated mission involving an uprising in Berlin and plans to resurrect the Prussian army, all organized by a rather amateur terrorist organization with a lot of big friends. Although we had supposedly sealed them after the mission was finished, the Rhumesstune has a lot of allies they'd set up for their plan's succession out for blood. It's just a precaution – of course, we just don't want to take any chances–"

"I won't have it," Jack interrupted him. "Make your men invisible or get them the hell away from Alex. He just wants to live a normal life, and you – you – _cretins _are making it far more difficult than it has to be! Assassination attempts and terrorist organizations – _Scorpia _and all of that–" Alex couldn't help the wince that followed the name, "–if you people were even _slightly _competent at your jobs, Alex wouldn't have almost d-died–"

To everyone's horror, Jack's eyes had welled up with tears, and Alex was on his feet in an instant, pulling the woman into his arms and desperately offering reassurances. "It's okay Jack, please don't cry. I'm alright, see?"

She looked up to see him staring across at her encouragingly, face reflecting concern. Alex was worried about _her – _after he was nearly _killed. Again. _It seemed like she was the only one affected by his missions. Just the thought of what had almost happened outside the Royal and General Bank three years ago had opened old wounds, and Jack found that having unleashed the emotions, they were hard to rebury.

"Alex, it's so h-horrible," she whimpered, leaning into him, and Alex was grateful he was about the same size as her now, or else he might've fallen over. Jack was having a nervous breakdown at the worstpossible time. He looked over to where Mrs. Jones and Blunt were for help, but they were both carefully avoiding looking at the pair, earning a scowl from the teenager at their obvious message. _You're on your own, buddy._

After a few more minutes of soft words from Alex, Jack had composed herself enough to sit down for a second time, sniffling. Alex did the same – although it was more accurate to say he simply collapsed into the piece of furniture, looking at the heads of MI6 with an expression somewhere between exasperation and bewilderment.

"Jack is right," Alex accounced, earning a wide-eyed mewl of surprise from Jack as she turned to face him.

"Not only is this compromising my chances at a normal life, but it's also compromising hers. She deserves better than that," Alex said sternly, his disappointment evident. Neither of the two looked cowed at the speech, although Jack was regarding him with shock. He sounded like the parent.

"I only have about a year of school left before I can start working full time. One of the reasons I've agreed to take this job was thinking about how much the world could've suffered if we'd failed once, and I want to do my part the only way I can. I took an oath when I agreed to work for you guys – _officially – _and I intend to uphold it. All I ask is that you put up with one more year of my sad attempts at normalcy and then I'm yours for good."

Jack swallowed hard at the implications of Alex's words.

"Look," he continued without a hitch, "I understand where you guys are coming from – don't go thinking you have me fooled, you don't care about me," he snapped after watching the muscles in Blunt's face relaxed, thinking he'd won.

"Both the CIA and the ASIS know you've been employing me since I was fourteen. If I were to die _now, _how would that look for _you _guys?Besides_," _he said coolly, fixing them with a frosty look, "I'm one of the best, _right?" _

He didn't say it smugly. He didn't even sound proud of the title. Having matured over the past few years, Alex was able to see that the world really did need him to keep peace when it was in his power to – whether he liked it or not. It wasn't something he did because it was particularly fun. He hadn't even played spies as a child – he'd preferred firefighter or doctor. It was sort of ironic, really.

Mrs. Jones' hand twitched – near imperceptibly, but there all the same. Blunt didn't slip up quite as easily, although Alex thought he might have seen a glint of respect momentarily pass through the man's eyes. Blunt nodded.

"Alright Alex, it seems you've got things figured out." He didn't bother to hide the fact that Alex had nailed their intentions spot-on. "So you can see why we're reluctant to let you out of our sights. In truth, we already have a large amount of guards watching you, but we thought the extra protection couldn't hurt."

Jack Starbright snorted.

Blunt plowed on like he hadn't even heard her. "Here's what I can offer you: in the next few weeks, Mrs. Jones as I will neutralize any threats to you one by one, until the security on you can lessen without putting you in any danger. In the meantime, this is what I propose: Miss Starbright can spend some time with her family back in Washington–" no one was surprised to see Blunt knew this particular fact, "–but while we're doing all this, Alex, I was you to stay with one of our contacts."

Alex looked to Jack, who'd slammed her mouth shut, teeth grating in frustration. On one hand, she had been meaning to pay her parents a visit, but she felt like she was abandoning Alex. The boy was able to gauge this, and assured her smoothly, "It's only for a little while, Jack, and I'm sure your parents will be really happy to see you. Besides, it's either this or the clones."

Jack reluctantly giggled at the grave expression on her surrogate brother's face, despite her anger. This seemed fair enough – and it was like Alex said. Only for a little while.

Grudgingly, Jack grumbled out an agreement. Mrs. Jones looked pleased.

"Alright, that's that then. Mrs. Starbright, I can assure you that MI6 will take care of any and all of your needs there and back, including airfare. First class," she added, hoping to keep on Alex Rider's guardian's good side.

"But what about Alex?" Jack fussed. "Who will he be staying with?"

Blunt met her gaze evenly, answering with cool dispassion, "I have someone who I'm sure wouldn't mind taking him in."

"But – wait. Someone on such short notice wouldn't just… you… you predicted this entire conversation, didn't you?" Jack's eyes nearly fell out of her head at the realization. She stared at Alex as if he'd grown a third arm.

"You can't be serious?" she asked, glancing between Blunt and Alex. The latter's expression carried a resentful frustration and a resigned acceptance, but he didn't have time to say another word before Mrs. Jones cut in, clearing her throat as she pressed another mint between her lips.

"Don't worry Alex, the man we have in mind isn't a complete stranger. And we can assure you you'll be perfectly protected in his custody." She didn't seem at all surprised that Alex had taken apart both their plans and their intentions with him all in the course of one minute.

With an acquiescent sigh, Alex stood up to face Mrs. Jones. "Alright. Give us a day to pack, and you can give us a ring when you want to send a car around."

Mrs. Jones nodded, face calculative. She'd always found Alex to be fairly reasonable – not to say MI6's idea of reason was anything close to fair. In fact, looking back, it wasn't really his negotiation skills – he just made it look that way by agreeing when he realized he was cornered. Well, she shouldn't be over thinking it – Alex Rider had always been mature for his age, after all.

"Until next time, you two. Play nice now."

And then they were gone.

0o0o0o

* * *

Jack's plane was due to leave London's airport in less than an hour, and she'd been inches away from picking up the telephone to call a taxi when it rang, causing her to jump and call upon a particularly colorful swear word. It had been Jill from the Royal and General Bank – a "secretary" that often made the calls directed at his house – calling to alert him that a car would be arriving at their home in less than an hour. Alex had gone upstairs for a shower just a minute ago, having said goodbye to Jack in advance, so when he got back downstairs, a towel wrapped loosely around his waist and another drying his hair, he wasn't too surprised to find a note tacked onto the door. Alex read it once over before crumpling it up and tossing it into a trash can, moving back upstairs to get dressed. Forty-five minutes later a sleek black car drove up in front of the house.

He had realized only after getting into the car that he didn't have a clue where he was going, or even who he was going to be staying with. A half hour's drive revealed his new home to be in a rather nice, two-story house, but his "guardian" was still a mystery.

"You're looking for one-seven-eight-seven. Good luck, kid," the driver said as the car pulled to a stop. He had graying hair and brown eyes, and probably no idea who Alex was.

The blonde thanked him and after a minute found himself standing outside a red door. He hesitantly reached out and knocked twice, feeling out of place – he should be at home, flipping through channels like he usually did at eight p.m., or hanging out with friends. Tom's parents had finally filed for divorce, so he lived with his mom on the weekdays and saw his dad for Fridays and Saturdays. Luckily for Tom, the two of them lived rather close together, and were much more accommodating of Alex's presence when they weren't chucking lamps at each other.

There was a rustle behind the door, the sound of the TV being switched off, and then footsteps. Locks clicked as they were deactivated one after the other, until the door swung forward, revealing a muscular man with short, dark hair and equally dark eyes. They clouded with suspicion for a few seconds, until recognition dawned and Wolf's voice called out in mild disbelief,

"…Cub? What the hell are you doing here, kid? Don't tell me you're…"

"No," Alex replied dryly, "I'm not staying. Just thought I'd stop by to catch up, you know – do a little show and tell with all these things I've brought in my suitcase."

Wolf blinked.

Alex's face relaxed into cheeky grin. "Kidding. Long time no see, Wolf."

"Yeah, no kidding… Oh shit, sorry, come in."

Wolf hastily pulled the door open, allowing Alex entrance into the space. It was slightly disorganized, but not enough to look particularly lived in, with a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and, assumedly, two bedrooms on the upper level. Alex looked around, judging what could be used as a weapon, windows and doors available for quick escapes, and where everything was placed should he be forced to navigate through the house in the dark.

"It's not much, but it's home," Wolf offered half-heartedly, moving towards the living room while Alex followed him, dropping his bags at the front door. There was a half-eaten styrofoam container of Chinese food on the coffee table accompanied by a beer, and the TV was on mute as silent sports competitors raced across the screen. Alex raised an eyebrow; Wolf just shrugged.

"That's the living room," he gestured vaguely in the direction of the couch before turning to the kitchen area. "And that's… yeah. There's a bathroom behind that door, and two more upstairs. That's also where your room is."

Alex hadn't seen the man in a while, but it seemed like he had become friendlier. Maybe he'd heard from MI6 that the teenager was a fully qualified agent now – or perhaps he was just more comfortable at home than he was at the SAS training camp or on a mission. Alex decided he didn't know him well enough to make the judgment.

"Listen, Cub. First let's just lay down some ground rules – how old are you, anyway?"

"Seventeen," Alex responded detachedly. He got the question a lot, but it seemed everyone seemed to say something different. He'd gotten 'you look younger' just as many times as he'd gotten 'you look older', so he didn't have much of an idea how he looked other than the fact that he was supposedly the school heartthrob, or something along those lines. Tom had explained the dynamics of his reputation to him a few months earlier, but he still didn't understand the celebrity obsession some of the other students seemed to hold for him (and Tom, for that matter – he'd always be the short kid Alex had rescued from bullies when they were little).

Wolf continued after a beat of predictable shock before he put together the amount of time that had passed since he'd first met Cub back at the Beacons. "Okay then. I'm not gonna give you a curfew or any dumb shit like that. I'm your guardian, if that – not your mom or dad or whoever. Oh, and if you feel like calling either of them, you can use my phone. I don't really care, but try to keep away from long distance calls, okay? I don't need that on my bill."

So Wolf didn't know about him – or at least not as much as Alex might have guess. That was good, he decided. It made things simpler. Rather than correcting the man on his current living situation, he just nodded and listened as the man rattled off the next rule.

"I won't change anything around here to accommodate you – if you want more food in the fridge, you can buy some yourself, and I'll give you some cash. As far as school and friends go, whatever, just keep out of my way." Scratch that, Wolf hadn't really gotten friendlier – he'd just been dazed by Alex's sudden reappearance in his life. That made a _lot _more sense.

"Other than that, just try not to get too rowdy and you can sleep here till whenever you've got to go. You remember K-unit?" Alex nodded again.

"They come over every now and then. Anyone else tries to get into the house, there's a gun in the bottom drawer of the kitchen, another in the bathroom under the sink, one in the freezer – just in case – and, uh… well, they're around, so watch your step." He wasn't sure what to say to this, so he settled for a light smirk.

"Wow. That's a lot of precautions, Wolf. Losing your touch?" Wolf scowled and turned towards the stairs, heading up. Alex followed naturally, and they stopped at the top while Wolf pointed at the various doors.

"That's my room. Don't go in there – ever. The one on the left over there is yours – it's the guest bedroom, so don't go putting up posters or any other teenage shit. If you find Eagle passed out in your bed, well… get used to it. There's a bathroom leading off my bedroom, so you can use the one at the end of the hall. Are we clear?"

"Sure thing, Wolf. What's your name, anyway?"

"You don't need to know. What's yours?" he returned, narrowing his eyes with a simple conveyed message of _nosy brat_. Alex feigned disappointment at the display of distrust.

"If you won't tell me, I'm not gonna tell you."

"Tch, like I care."

The two glared at each other, measuring whether or not the other would give in until finally they came to an agreement. Information wasn't free – it would be an eye for an eye. Alex sighed, resigned to taking the high road.

"Alex."

"Luke."

And that was that.

0o0o0o

* * *

It was a typical Sunday morning – both men slept in. Eleven o' clock brought Alex back into the world of the living, and he sluggishly moved to turn on the lamp on his bedside table. Of course, having forgotten he was in a bedroom other than his own, his hand flew out expecting to catch on the table as it always did before working its way over to the light switch. Unfortunately, the bedside table in Wolf's guest bedroom was on the other side of the bed, and Alex was sent careening down to the floor, landing on his face. With a muffled groan_, _he pushed himself up before rubbing his head, confused by his surroundings. Instincts kicked in and suddenly he was completely alert to everything around him…

Until Alex remembered where he was. He looked over to the bed longingly, but once he'd switched himself on, it was difficult to get back to sleep. Slowly the burst of adrenaline burned out of his system, and Alex stood up, picking up the blankets and tossing them haphazardly onto the bed before opening the door, rubbing his face. He wasn't wearing anything other than a pair of red plaid pajama pants and a white shirt, but it was warmer outside than usual, and Wolf thankfully kept the heat on in the house.

Yawning widely, he moved into the kitchen, eyes half lidded and tired. Upon inspecting the fridge he found nothing more than an empty milk container (typical), one cracked egg in a carton marked expired, some cheese that looked like rocks, and a piece and a half of pizza marked "_SNAKES. DON'T EAT – that means you Eagle. And you too, Fox. And Wolf's gonna feel left out, so him too."_

Alex grinned. It looked like the SAS soldiers used their codenames outside work – like nicknames. _They aren't so tough_, he thought, chuckling. He wondered what the rest of K-unit's reactions to seeing him again would be.

Alex decided to explore a bit more thoroughly.

He made it his mission to find every gun hidden in the house. There was one sitting atop the microwave, covered in a layer of dust – Alex wondered how long it had been there for. A semi-automatic was hidden under a couch cushion – fallen out of a holster, maybe? Who knew – and a third in the freezer, just as Wolf had said. Alex had stood with one hand holding the freezer open for a few minutes, struck by a WTF moment.

In the end, he decided to just go out and grab something. His stomach was growling loudly, complaining about the lack of nutrition. Just as he was about to make his way back to his bedroom to change, Alex's shirt caught on one of the drawer's handle's, pulling it open. Alex pulled the fabric away from where it had caught, but he also saw something in the draw.

It was a goldmine. Dozens of pamphlets, brochures, coupons and papers lay stuffed into the compartment, advertizing food from every end of the earth. There were some for Capucci's Pizza near his school, stapled to a coupon with a dollar off any large pizza he might buy in the next month. This one had to be fairly recent to have not expired, and although it wasn't much, he decided to cram it into the back so he might be able to use it later.

There – that's what he was looking for. A small, rectangular sheet advertising a store called _Green Eggs Breakfast in Bed _delivery service. He pulled it out, checked for the number, and waited until someone picked up the phone. It sounded like a girl.

"Hello, Green Eggs! What can I help you with?"

"Hi, I was wondering if you still ran that breakfast in bed thing this late into the morning? I just don't have any food in the house, and my… roommate's sleeping in so I can't – don't want to wake him up and ask for the keys to his car."

"Well, you could take the bus here," the girl suggested brightly.

"I would, but I just moved in and don't know my way around this part of town yet." He checked the paper for the name again and then continued, "Green Eggs is just _so _good in the mornings and I don't want to have to settle for worse if I don't have to."

"Well, technically we stop running at ten thirty and it's already eleven thirty…"

"I can tip!" he supplied. She paused before asking,

"How old are you?"

"Um–" He seemed to be getting that question a lot lately, "–seventeen, why?"

"Oh, twelve?" she said casually. "Well, we run until noon for children twelve and under since we know how they like to sleep in." Alex took the phone away from his face, looked at it blankly, and then said into it again,

"Hello?"

"Address and order please?"

Alex caught on. Most likely her manager was right behind her. She needed a valid excuse to be making runs this late into the day. Smiling, he gave her his order (times two for Wolf, since he was just that generous) and the address outside before sitting back on the couch and turning on the TV, throwing his feet onto the coffee table comfortably.

An alarm suddenly exploded behind him, shrieking shrilly and causing him to jump six feet in the air, slamming his hand down on the gun he'd left on the couch beside him. He briefly paused before moving slowly into the kitchen, peering over the countertop to see if the door had been opened. Everything _looked _normal…

There was a thud from upstairs, and seconds later Wolf was flying down the stairs, a gun in his mouth as he struggled to put an arm through the wrong sleeve. He paused when he saw Alex with the gun, and Alex stared at him as Wolf slowed, eventually stopping all together. Wolf's shocked look soon turned to rage as he stomped down the last two steps, pushing away a potted plant at the front door to reveal a small switch. When he flicked it, all the noise cut off abruptly, and the two were left there in complete silence, processing what had just happened.

He checked the locks, opening the door experimentally, but soon after his thoughts seemed to return to him at once. All of a sudden Wolf was pointing the gun at him, snarling,

"What the _fuck, _Cub? Why are you up so damn early?"

"Wolf… it's almost noon."

Wolf stopped, finger on the trigger twitching ominously. Cub wasn't intimidated – Wolf wouldn't shoot him, he was probably just one of those people who could concentrate better and take things in more logically when they were in the workplace. For Wolf, the workplace was just a gun, and if holding it up threateningly let him process things easier right after waking up, who was Cub to refuse him?

"Did you touch my door?" Wolf asked. Alex shook his head. "Try to open a window? Touch _anything?"_

Alex looked perplexed, but replied anyway, "The alarm went off when I turned on the TV."

It seemed to finally dawn on Wolf what had happened. "You put your feet up on the table," he accused, waving the gun at him. Alex nodded quickly.

"Yes. What's up with the crazy alarm system, Wolf?"

Wolf sighed, rubbing his face. "I guess I should've explained it to you yesterday. I turn it on every night and then turn it off every morning. It has a bunch of alarms that activate even if you just brush by something. When I wake up, I turn on the light in my bedroom, and that automatically turns them off. It's the same with the one in the guest bedroom – why didn't you turn that on?"

Alex just shook his head, annoyed with his luck. Wolf seemed to have completely forgotten that he had a gun aimed at Alex's chest. "Well, the alarms also automatically send a text to all of K-unit, so they'll be here in a minute. For the moment let's just sit tight and–"

Wolf didn't have time to finish before a vicious weight hit him in the back, throwing him to the ground. A girl wearing a green t-shirt was beating him senseless with a tin box, and Alex took action immediately. She'd begun to reach for Wolf's gun, failing to notice he was already out cold, but Alex was faster – he caught her wrist and pulled her to her feet, grabbing the other hand before pinning them behind her back. Then he asked calmly,

"Who are you and why are you in my house?" _Or… Wolf's, I suppose_, he reminded himself passively.

To his surprise, the girl sniffled and hiccupped before it was revealed that she'd started to cry.

"M-My name is Brooke," she whimpered. "I was just d-delivering an order to this address when I saw that guy pointing a g-gun at you and – and –!"

Alex let her go on the spot, allowing her to spin away from him rubbing her wrists and holding back tears with willpower that had him impressed. Wolf was still unconscious on the floor, and the Green Eggs bag had been dropped at the door before explanations could be made.

Alex massaged his temples. A headache this early in the day would do nothing for him. Glancing up, he saw the girl staring at him and said,

"I'm sorry about all this. I promise I'll double your tip. My roommate is a – a cop, and our alarm went off when I hit this thing so he thought I was an intruder and pulled a gun on me. He wouldn't have shot me…" Alex paused. "Well, not at that moment, anyway."

The delivery girl was looking down at Wolf's prone form guiltily, hiccupping again before pointing at him.

"I hit him really hard over the head with the change box… do you think he's okay?" she inqured, concerned now that she realized she'd just beaten up an innocent man. Then her eyes widened – enough so that Alex found it almost comical.

"Shit – you said he was a cop? Am I gonna be fined, or – or put in _prison? _Shitshitshit, why did I agree to take this order? Holy _mother–_"

"Hey – hey! Calm down," Alex stopped her, leaning down and picking up the gun lying on the floor before opening the drawer on one of the cupboards lining the walls and unceremoniously dropping it inside. The girl winced when it hit the bottom, and then eyed the other one in his hand – the one from the couch. Quickly, he repeated the action until there were no dangerous weapons left between them.

"You're not going to jail," he assured her, crouching next to Wolf. "And he's fine."

He smacked Wolf upside the head, enjoying the moment since it was probably the only chance he would ever get to do so. "Hey. Wake up."

Wolf's brown eyes began to blink open, focusing on Alex's face and its close proximity. Alex grinned cheekily.

"You just got owned by a teenage girl, Wolf."

"… What…?"

"You heard me. Get up, breakfast is here."

Just then, their guests arrived, with Eagle cheerfully bouncing in through the doorway first. Snake followed more calmly, and lastly came Fox – or Ben Daniels, who was tucking something away as he entered (_probably a gun,_ Alex thought). The girl seemed even _more_ overwhelmed after seeing Wolf had houseguests, if possible, K-unit looked to mirror the expression.

"What the hell is this?" Eagle wondered out loud, ignoring the room's other two occupants in favor of helping Wolf to his feet. Said SAS soldier was currently rubbing the side of his head painfully, glaring at Alex from across the room. Eagle, Fox and Snake all followed his gaze, staring at Alex. To top it off, the delivery girl had decided to play along too, until all eyes were on him.

His headache gave an unfavorable throb.

"Well, this is a complete disaster," he muttered, looking up to meet them.

_Quick and painless, like a band-aid._

"Hi! My name's Alex. I like to hang out with my friends and play football. Back at camp, you might've known me as Cub. Seventeen and single," he winked at K-unit, leading Eagle's jaw to drop. He then crossed his arms over his chest, straightening as his expression sobered.

"Introductions out of the way, we can skip all the shocked, 'hey, is that Cub? What's _he _doing here?' needlessness. Allow me to explain, yeah? I'm staying with Wolf for the next few weeks while my employers clear my name."

He hadn't forgotten about the poor delivery girl with the bad luck, making sure to hedge around the details. "I made a few too many enemies last time, so for now I'm sleeping here. Yep, I remember all of you guys from camp and Ben from Australia, so we can skip that too. Wolf, you want an ice pack?" He briefly remembered finding a gun sitting atop one.

Wolf nodded grudgingly, shooting him one final glare before leaning back against the wall. Alex disappeared around the corner while the rest of K-unit and the girl went over what Alex had just told them. So he _was _Cub, he'd been officially employed by MI6, they were taking down any threats and in the meantime he was staying with Wolf. Other than that it was just sarcasm and jabs, so there really wasn't any need to go over it again. Truthfully, the group was mildly impressed with his tact.

Silence reigned until the only female voice in the room (disregarding what Eagle sounded like on helium) quipped,

"So, he's single?"

She was met with four identical dead looks.

0o0o0o

* * *

The delivery girl had told Alex she wouldn't tell anyone what had happened in return for a large tip and his phone number. She was gone a few minutes later, clutching a well-earned fifty for her troubles, while K-unit plus Alex sat down at the kitchen table, passing around information. Eagle was sipping at a miniature carton of milk that had come with the meal, while Wolf held an ice pack to his head. Snake was mostly quiet, and it was Fox who was doing the talking.

"Well, I worked with MI6 for another six months after Australia–" neither Alex nor Fox were giving away anything about their mission other than the location, much to the annoyance of the other three, "–but I ended up going back to the SAS and rejoining K-unit. Espionage was never my high point," he admitted sheepishly. "I failed two missions in a row and when they offered me a chance to rejoin the SAS, I took it. There's just too much sabotage and deception in the spying world for me."

Alex nodded. He knew exactly what Fox was talking about – the blonde had yet to encounter some mastermind who hadn't poured out his life story to him, somehow explaining how he was justified for blowing up the world because he was beat up by his neighbors when he was little. Alex had never bought it – plenty of children went their whole life without ever getting revenge on the school bully. Why couldn't they?

"Yeah, I get that," Alex indulged, taking a bite of the poached egg he'd ordered. "This one guy was bullied in school, so he decided he'd get his revenge on the world by killing a bunch of children. I still don't know what the hell he was thinking…"

Alex shook his head, swallowing a mouthful of bacon. "He got what was coming to him, that was for sure."

When he looked back up, all of K-unit was staring right at him. Alex looked taken aback. "What?"

"That's the closest we've ever come to learning something about you other than your name and whether or not you were single," Snake explained. Eagle made the _call me _sign with his hand from his spot at the end of the table, while Alex rolled his eyes at him. He then turned to Wolf, asking purposefully,

"So, any other booby traps I should know about? Jesus, Wolf, you've got this place wired. You know he keeps a gun in the freezer?"

Eagle suddenly brought his fist down into his palm. "So _that's _where that went…"

The group ignored him. Instead, Fox piped up with a sly look at Wolf, "Well, Cub, let's just say you're not the only one that's made some powerful enemies."

The implications of what Fox had just told them set in and Eagle burst out laughing just as Wolf turned red. Snake was smiling knowingly.

"Shut up!" he ordered them, crossing his arms childishly. "He doesn't need to know!"

"He's gonna find out, if he's gonna be staying here for the next few weeks."

"Let him find out on his own then!" Wolf barked.

"Aw, but that's not as much _fun!" _Eagle replied, resting his chin in his hands and pouting while Snake snorted a laugh. Alex turned to the only person he thought he might be able to get information out of: Fox.

"Who are you talking about?" he asked. Fox's cheshire cat grin grew.

"It's Tammy," he stage-whispered, sending Wolf into a sputtering rage.

"_Who?_"

And before Wolf could stop them, all three K-unit members howled,

"_WOLF'S EX GIRLFRIEND!"_

0o0o0o

* * *

**The only disclaimer I plan on giving: **Alex Rider, K-unit, Blunt, Mrs. Jones, Jack, Sabina, Tom, and James Hale all belong to **Anthony Horowitz**, as do the story plots from the Alex Rider series referenced in this work. OC's and general plot scheming can be blamed on me and my crackpot mind. This is a work of fiction. That is all!

In this story there will be swearing and mature themes (aka drinking, partying, references to sex), since it's concentrating on a confident, sarcastic, flirtatious teenage Alex (although be warned, it gets heavier later in the story - mature themes also include violence, blood, and a torture warning for chapter 24). Also a heads up: I'm Canadian, and our British English doesn't extend much further past adding u's to words like favourite and colour (Microsoft Word, ditch the red underline! Stupid American programs…) Also, we like to party and watch mock everything around us, so... Alex will too. I hope this is okay with everyone.

Hmm... What else can I tell you? There will be romance in the story, but it won't be AlexOC and it won't be slash. So who do you think I'm thinking of? However, I don't want Alex to be tied down right away, so there will still plenty of room for stupid situations he's gonna get himself into (and overall, this story is eighty percent Alex/K-unit interaction). Sit tight to hear more about Tammy, and… other pairings will be Eagle/OC and later, Fox/Jack. Just if you were wondering.

That's basically all the info I can give you on the story right now. Once again: -begs pathetically- please review for me? It is inspiration on paper, I swear.

**Next chapter: **Grand theft auto, screaming matches, Brookland Comprehensive School and as usual, the joke is on Wolf.

**Edit 05/08/12**: So I'm beginning the slow an arduous process of going through my writing from two years ago and fixing it up, starting with this chapter. The grammar and sentence structure has been tweaked, some Americanisms corrected, but all in all nothing too noticeable has been changed!


	2. Grand Theft Auto

_"He's gonna find out, if he's gonna be staying here for the next few weeks."_

_"Let him find out on his own then!" Wolf barked._

_"Aw, but that's not as much fun!" Eagle replied, resting his chin in his hands and pouting while Snake snorted a laugh. Alex turned to the only person he thought he might be able to get information out of: Fox._

_"Who are you talking about?" he asked. Fox's cheshire cat grin grew._

_"It's Tammy," he stage-whispered, sending Wolf into a sputtering rage._

_"Who?"_

_And before Wolf could stop them, all three K-unit members howled,_

_"WOLF'S EX GIRLFRIEND!"_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 2

**Grand Theft Auto**

The next morning, Alex was awake at eight a.m., and Wolf followed him downstairs after taking a short shower. On the day before, K-unit and Alex had gone to the store to pick up some food and make the house vaguely livable in. Now, he was putting that food to good use by making breakfast.

Pancakes – who needed anything else? – were the perfect pick-me-up on Monday mornings. Wolf hadn't thanked him for the food, but then again, he hadn't apologized for pointing a gun at Alex the day before either, so he'd decided to stop expecting such pleasantries from the man. They both sat down, and Wolf stabbed his pancake harshly, glancing up and asking as a means for small talk,

"So how's school?"

"Fine," he responded, stuffing a piece of pancake into his mouth before licking his fingers. Wolf grunted, and Alex watched him closely, wondering what he was trying to accomplish.

"... Yeah? What year are you in?"

"… Twelve." Alex slowed down his movements. Wolf was looking uncomfortable, but he persevered anyway.

"… Do you… miss a lot of school? Because of your, um, you know –"

"Speaking of school…" Alex cut him off, hoping to end the subject. "Could I take your car?"

Wolf's response was immediate. "Absolutely not. Want to answer the question?"

Alex narrowed his eyes. Plan B it was. Until then, he supposed he should try a different approach.

"What are you doing?" By this time, the blonde had stopped eating and was now openly staring at him. Wolf glowered, throwing his hands down on the table in exasperation. The action reminded Alex of Jack – he really should give her a ring today; between everything happening the day before, it had slipped his mind.

"I'm just trying to learn a bit more about you!" he cried out. "No one knows anything, Cub. I don't even really know why you need to be here, in my own damn house. Consider that, and then you tell me if it's such a crime to try and make small talk."

"It's a crime when _you_ do it, Wolf. Every time you try to make small talk, someone's precious baby dies."

"Fuck it. What the hell do you do at MI6, anyway? Are you a spy?"

Alex thought about it. He could probably tell Wolf – it was true that he'd told less-involved people – but he wasn't sure if he wanted to give him any information at all. Then he wouldn't be the exotic, mysterious stranger. Voicing these thoughts to Wolf, he watched as the man ran a hand over his pinched face, frustrated.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," he growled, "and believe me when I say there is nothing _exotic_ about you. The strange, mystery-child part is spot-on, though. How come you're a spy at age seventeen? You're still in school, damn it."

Alex shrugged. "I do okay."

"What do your parents think about it? Do they even know?"

The blonde paused in the action of picking his napkin, and then slowly raised it to his face, answering dryly, "Well, it'd be pretty hard for them to hear about it, being six feet under and all."

Wolf looked vaguely, albeit not entirely, surprised. "So they're dead?"

"No, no. They have this little underground clubhouse six feet under our backyard, and–"

"Just… go to school, Cub," Wolf cut him off tiredly. Alex stood up, cleaning off his plate and tossing it in the formerly unused dishwasher before turning to Wolf in the process of collecting his books.

"Why are you up so early anyway, Wolf?" Alex asked him. "I thought you only had to work when they asked you to? Don't tell me you got a call…"

"Nah. I have a second job."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

Wolf grinned… _wolfishly_. "I'm a bouncer."

Alex laughed, picturing the intimidating soldier working at a club, nodding at the cute girls and pushing other guys back. It fit him perfectly, but it couldn't possibly be true. "Bull."

"Yeah, you're right. You really want to know?" Predictably, Alex nodded, temporarily stopping in his task of seeing how many books could be crammed into the average-sized backpack before it would explode.

"I'm a part time mechanic. It's a decent job; you organize your own hours and make sure it works with everyone else, and then you go in when you go in. If you can't, give 'em a day's notice and they can usually find someone to cover for you… or maybe it's just me. They know I'm in the SAS," he explained with a smirk. "See? I don't have to live a lie like you do."

"I may live a lie, but at least I'm young, handsome, and hold on to a promising career in espionage," he shot back. "That's not bad for someone who's not even out of school yet. You're just a paranoid old car junkie with a bitchy ex and _Eagle_ as a best friend."

Wolf rose to the threats, as easy to provoke as ever. "Hey! I can take most of that stuff from a stupid brat, but Eagle is _not_ my best friend. That's going too far."

Alex peered at him, calculative chocolate eyes analyzing the man's words carefully. "Then who's your best friend?"

"… Snake."

"I'm telling Fox and Eagle," he declared instantly.

"You're a bastard, you know that?"

Still cackling, Alex escaped out the front door just in time to avoid a flying spoon. Then he pulled his bag over his shoulder and grinned mischievously, reaching down to draw something from his pocket. Alex clicked the unlock button on the set of car keys, and the car gave an enthusiastic beep. Wolf owned a silver Camaro, and when Alex started it, he found the tank full and the keys functional enough to turn on the car without setting off an alarm loud enough to shake the continent.

Wolf hadn't noticed yet. Pulling out of the driveway, Alex couldn't keep the smile off his face. He'd outsmarted Wolf. The man was too annoyed with him to watch him leave – his pride wouldn't allow it. With any luck, he wouldn't realize his car was missing until Alex was out of the neighborhood and out of sight.

Alex's luck of the devil kicked in at that moment, and he sped off without a hitch, smart enough not to test the speed on the roads in the city but thinking every minute about how he might be able to grab Tom and find a freeway to race it on without getting in trouble with Wolf. The car had some impressive limits upon closer inspection.

A few minutes later he pulled into the school, getting out of the car and locking it behind him. School was better three years later – he'd been able to catch up on missed assignments and take more reasonable missions, ones that only took a couple days and usually incorporated weekends and breaks outside of emergencies.

He was also more popular now, and MI6 had finally decided to give him a solid disease – they created a fake one that he'd supposedly contracted just after Ian died, and it would kick in when his red blood cells were down and his blood sugar hadn't received enough iron or something else that was long and boring and actually made sense if you were a doctor looking in on it. MI6 had even gone as far as to post a few articles on the internet to back it up. It just so turned out that one of the nurses at Brookland _had _looked up his "condition", and had been satisfied enough when everything seemed to check out.

Alex still hung out with Tom Harrison and James Hale, but the three were often joined by other people – most of which were girls. He'd made up some stupid story about being in a motorcycle accident back when he'd gone to Italy with Tom after the guys had asked him about his scars in the change rooms, and he explained the bullet wound with being caught up in a drive-by shooting.

"The police were trying to cover it up," he'd told them animatedly. "_'Appendicitis'_, my ass."

Word had gotten out to the girls about his "dangerous" side, and pretty soon his dwindling fan club had been restored to its former glory. The ones that obsessed over him were naturally pretty annoying, with personalities dull enough to knock Eagle over the head with, but it had its perks: it wasn't merely an ego boost (although it certainly did that, too); rather, anytime he supported some kind of cause – a charity, or even the petition for better football supplies he's signed back in year ten – it was flooded with the girl's donations and help. "Alex? Did you see? I just donated eighty dollars to Feed the Children." He'd give them their pat on the back and they'd scurry off, satisfied. Before all, it was for a good cause.

"Well, at least you use your powers for good," Tom had commented dryly the first time Alex had gone canvassing to _selected_ lockers. Alex had responded by punching him lightly in the shoulder, ignoring Tom's mock noises of pain.

Alex's first class was maths. He took his seat beside James and jotted down notes as usual. It was halfway through science, his second class of the day, that he'd finally gotten the call he was waiting for, accepting it with about as much anticipation as a piece of driftwood.

"I apologize for the interruption. Would Alex Rider report to the office, please? Alex Rider, report to the office, thank you." The class did their customary _"oooh you're gonna get it now!"_ rumble, and then Alex was off.

When he showed up, he was greeted by a sheepish looking Eagle and a furious looking Wolf. Disregarding the secretary completely, Wolf had stalked up to Alex and grabbed the front of his shirt, shaking him roughly.

"What part of_ 'absolutely not'_ do you not understand, Cub?" he raged.

"The 'not' part?" he replied with a nervous smile. Wolf bashed him over the head with a fist, drawing the attention of all the nearby classrooms with the noise he was making.

"Honestly, stealing my _car? _As if I haven't already been way too generous with you! It's been one day and you're already taking my stuff after I say no? If you don't smarten up, I might just have to pull my gun on you again and _fire, do you understand me?_"

"Why is Eagle here?" Alex asked flippantly, heightening Wolf's fury with his lack of fear. Hearing his name, the blonde turned and waved enthusiastically, resulting in a swift kick to the shin via Wolf. The man had already turned back toward Alex when Eagle let out a cry of protest, but unfortunately, the intimidation factor was slightly dampened by the fact that Alex was taller than Wolf by about half an inch. It didn't make much of a difference, but it meant Wolf couldn't tower over Alex like he had done in the past.

"I gave him the ride here," Eagle responded, still rubbing his leg. Wolf's dirty look was lost on his overly-nonchalant teammate.

"I'm serious, Cub! Try it again, and I'll show you what we learned about _after _you left Brecons Beacons." He shoved him hard in the chest, sending a twinge of pain shooting through his ribcage at the pressure put on his bullet wound. Alex carefully masked the discomfort.

"You wanna keep it down, Wolf? Classes are in session," Alex reminded him. Wolf looked mutinous as he reached out to roughly grab Alex's arm, shoving a hand into the boy's pocket and withdrawing a pair of silver car keys before Alex could retaliate.

"Take me seriously, brat!" he snarled, pushing the keys into his own back pocket.

"Or what?" Alex taunted.

"Or I'll fucking shoot you in the knees, that's what!"

"Wolf… I think we should go…" Eagle mumbled, eyeing the tall, angry-looking man that had just emerged from the office.

"Shut up, Eagle. I mean it. Take my shit again, and you're gonna _pay._"

"Like you'd ever hurt _me. _Oh wait, let me rephrase that – like you _could."_

With a roar, Wolf launched a fist at Alex's face, but it was pushed off course by a frightened Eagle seconds before it could connect. He grabbed Wolf's wrist, pulling him towards the door and away from the security guard who was fast approaching. Wolf had given up on fighting Eagle, but he did manage to shout one last time over his shoulder,

"And don't you _dare_ show your face in my house _ever again!_"

When the two were gone, Alex stood frozen for another minute before sighing and rubbing his face, the other hand running through his hair as he always did when he was stressed. So maybe taking the car had been a bad move… and aggravating Wolf at school hadn't done much for him either, but… the man just came off so _arrogant_, and if there was one thing the teenager couldn't handle, it was that particular trait.

Turning around, he was met by the horrified stare of the school secretary. Slowly, she pointed at the door where the two men disappeared, as if she expected them to come bursting in again any second.

"Was he… serious?"

Alex gave her a long, withering look, and decided that lying was most certainly the best course of action if he didn't want to create an even huger mess of things all over again.

"No, ma'am. Of course he wasn't… he just has a bit of a temper. It's okay, I know him – he says things he doesn't mean when he's angry. Please don't worry about me," he offered a smile. "Was that all you called me here for?"

The woman nodded dazedly, and Alex said goodbye before going back to maths. However, upon opening the door, he was greeted with twenty-six startled faces, and one smirking one. _James, you cocky bastard._

"Mr. Rider? I trust you'll… work that out after school?" his teacher, Mr. Werth, asked. Alex nodded numbly. Had the entire school heard him and Wolf battle it out back there?

"Alright. Take a seat then."

He did so, all the while dreading lunch more than ever before.

0o0o0o

* * *

As soon as the break bell rand Alex was shooting out his chair and tearing out the door, managing to make it through before any of his classmates could shut it and pester him for information. James was right at his heals, asking him about the man, what the guy's name was, why he'd felt the need to be so loud, and what the hell was wrong with him. Alex said answer "I don't know" to every question, for once in complete honesty.

As he had expected, his locker was swarming with curious classmates, and a cry of "there he is!" turned them all in his direction. Target spotted, he was taken down with swift ease, surrounded by a dozen people wanting to know what he'd done now. Tom was there, almost seeming to take up the position as leader of their gang.

"Guys, guys! Shut up and let him speak. When he explains this, I want you to go to every single one of your friends and tell them. Hopefully you'll be the only group he has to deal with like this."

"I feel like Britney Spears," Alex commented mournfully, earning a strangled look from James.

"Give the man some space. That's it. Now Alex, what the fuck was _that?_"

Alex scowled, crossing his arms over his chest angrily. "That guy is taking care of me while Jack's out of the country, visiting relatives. He's an asshole."

There was no need to explain his situation – everyone knew Jack. A few of his classmates had even added her on various social networking sites, much to her amusement.

"Why was he yelling at you? I couldn't understand him through the volume of his voice."

"I… sortofkindofalittlebit took his car. But I didn't know how else to get to school. My bike was left behind at my house, and it would've been too long to bike here anyway. I couldn't take the tube because the only one near his place was under construction."

"Next time, just call me, man."

"Yeah! I'd be happy to give you a ride, Alex!"

"Here's my number. Anytime, anyplace…" The noise erupted as everyone responded to the story. Tom was forced to calm them down again.

"I heard him say not go come home tonight." Actually, Tom had tacked on the tonight to make it look less damning. Wolf had dictated that he never wanted to see Cub again. "You can stay at my place if you want."

More shouts and offers of places to stay.

"So when he said he'd pull his gun on you _again_ and fire, what did _that _mean? Like, he's done it _before?_"

Alex sighed, knowing _someone_ would've caught that bit. This was tiring. He wasn't even sure he'd have time for lunch at this point.

"Yes, this one time when he caught me up for a midnight snack, he thought I was an intruder. Wolf's a cop, so he–"

"Is that his name? Wolf? Who was Eagle? And why did he keep calling you Cub?"

"They're… nicknames. Wolf's real name is Luke, and Eagle's is Jim." He'd made the second part up, but he doubted anyone would call him on it.

"They call me Cub because I'm the youngest. It was sort of a joke when I was younger, but it stuck. I think they've probably forgotten my real name…" Alex spotted Tom watching him sharply. He was expecting a non-bullshit version after school, Alex was sure.

"What were you doing at Brecons Beacons?"

Tom blanched, remembering the awful training facility Alex had described. So that explained who Wolf and Eagle _really_ were. He remembered hearing their names somewhere, but now hearing the name of the SAS camp, he was able to pinpoint their origin. Alex had described them as the abusive members of "K-unit".

"I had a karate competition there once, and that's where I met Wolf. He was – instructing, and Eagle was helping."

"I thought you said you met them when you were little?" Alex was getting frustrated. Were they going to question his every answer?

"Yeah. It was a competition I had when I was eight." That was good. There was no one in his eight year-old karate class that currently went to Brookland.

"He wasn't serious about hurting you though, was he? Because we'll kick his ass," one of the other guys on his football team offered, cracking his knuckles. Alex grinned.

"Trust me, he'd never really intentionally hurt me. And I'll probably stay with Tom tonight, just to give Wolf some time to cool down."

There were various nods throughout the crowd, so he guessed everyone was basically done with him. As the group of people cleared out to spread the news, Tom hung back.

"We can take my car," Tom piped up.

Alex just grimaced.

0o0o0o

* * *

It was four in the afternoon and Wolf hadn't heard a word from Cub. Eagle was sitting next to him on the couch, eating a sandwich that was so big it barely fit in his mouth, but Wolf couldn't bring himself to turn off the ISPN and find out if Cub was going to hang out with a friend or if he'd taken his words to heart.

"I probably shouldn't have told him he wasn't allowed to show his face here ever again," Wolf commented for what seemed like the tenth time. Eagle nodded, wiping the mustard off his face and missing a large amount at the base of his nose.

"You also probably could've left out the part about shooting him in the knees," he supplied helpfully. Wolf glared weakly at him.

"If anything happens to him…" Eagle choked, turning towards his leader with an appalled look on his face. Wolf threw a hand down on the man's back, sending Eagle into a violent coughing fit as he watched on apathetically.

"Better now?" Wolf asked flatly. Eagle managed to get out what he'd been about to say before Wolf could stop him.

"Are you _worried_ about Cub? No _way…!"_

"I'm not worried, you idiot. If you'd have let me finish, I was going to say that if anything happens to him, MI6 is gonna be pissed. I don't wanna get in deep shit because the kid couldn't hold his own to a bunch of seniors."

Eagle grinned at him, obviously still on about his original assumption. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And what if you lost him? What if he's run off and he doesn't ever want to come back?"

Wolf wasn't fazed. "He'll be back."

"How do you know?" Eagle shot back. Wolf stared at him blankly.

"Well… there's food here. He needs food… you know, to eat. How is he gonna live if he has no money or food?"

Eagle swallowed the bite he'd bitten off, wincing when he found he hadn't chewed it quite as thoroughly as he'd thought. "Well, I reckon he'll do the same thing you do when you have no money or food."

Wolf made a face. "Freeload off you guys?"

"Exactly."

"But he doesn't know where anyone else in K-unit lives."

Eagle shook his head, waiting patiently for the light bulb to go off over Wolf's head. A second later realization dawned on him, and then Wolf was nodding slowly.

"But all his friends are still in school. How long until–"

"How do you know," Eagle cut in, "that all of Cub's friends are all still in school? I really doubt that he _has_ to come back here."

"He left all his stuff here. And he needs to apologize."

But Wolf was getting nowhere and he knew it. After a while he gave up, sighing and falling back into the couch.

"Fuck it. Fuck him, and fuck MI6. I don't give a rat's ass. The kid can jump off a bridge for all I care."

Eagle laughed. "You're so cold, Wolf."

"Fuck you too."

0o0o0o

* * *

Three days passed and Wolf found Alex still hadn't come home. In truth, Alex had stayed at Tom's house for two days and a girl named Mia's for the third – James' twin sister. James himself had moved out a couple weeks ago with claims of "psychotic parents" with his girlfriend. Since Mia was someone he knew pretty well, he'd taken her up on her offer of a place to stay. He didn't want to stay too long in one place, so he was jumping from person to person, fearing the day he'd run out of people to stay with on the football team. He might even be forced to ask one of the girls from his fan club for a house to sleep overnight in if things kept up like this – of course, that wasn't all bad since some of the girls from his fan club were _really_ cute… Alex just wasn't looking forward to confronting Wolf again.

So he was putting it off.

Wolf sighed. It was Friday, the last day of the school week and the final chance Wolf had to catch Cub before the weekend started up and he disappeared all together. He'd gotten a call from Mrs. Jones already, berating him for making a scene at Alex's school. It was clear he was to keep him at the house. So, accompanied by extreme regret, Wolf got in his car half an hour before Cub's school day ended and drove over to Brookland.

When the bell rang, teenagers began to flood out the doors. Wolf waited impatiently for Alex to appear, but it was a full fifteen minutes before Alex finally made an appearance, talking to a large group of friends made up of various girls and boys. A couple of them started to laugh, and Alex grinned while a dark-haired boy cuffed him over the head him playfully.

It was a nice picture – until Alex's eyes found Wolf's and the smile faltered. A couple of the friends followed his gaze before trailing off, apprehensiveness flooding their postures. Three people turned around and left, while a few tried to look threatening. Wolf might have laughed had he not had his steely eyes locked on Alex's suddenly cooler brown ones.

Alex approached the car slowly, and Wolf was the first to speak.

"Hey, Cub. Where've you been?"

"He has a name!" a taller teenager barked. Wolf looked over to him without looking the least bit intimidated. He'd already put together eight different ways of using his height against him should he need to take him down. Teenagers _were_ prone to violence, after all.

"I know he has a name. I forgot what it is and I don't care enough to ask," he returned evenly, throwing the kid off. Then he glanced back at Alex, who was looking at him with cold indifference.

"So? What do you want?"

"What the hell do you–" he stopped upon realizing he'd drawn attention to their corner, lowering his voice to a hiss and finished, "–what the hell do you mean 'what do I want'? You're _supposed_ to be staying with_ me._"

"I was under the impression that I was going to be violently killed if I was seen on your property again."

"Get in the car, Cub," Wolf growled.

"A friendly reminder then – his name is _Alex_," a boy spoke up from next to the first one. "So how about you use that instead of your stupid nickname?"

Wolf stared at him for a second before repeating vacantly, "Nickname?"

Alex gave him a hard look. "Whatever. Maybe I don't_ want _to stay with you, did you think about that?"

He was purposely being difficult. Wolf had pissed him off, and he wanted to make things harder for the man. Wolf needed to realize he wasn't a child and didn't need to be treated like one, even if the approach he was taking was a little redundant. It was more likely that he just needed to blow off some steam – taking the car was one thing, but he didn't deserve to be screamed at in front of all his whole school. Wolf could've waited until he'd gotten home like any civilized person – in fact, Alex would havee been satisfied if they'd simply left the building.

In short, Wolf had acted like an asshole, and Alex wanted to make sure he felt like one.

"Yeah, well guess what? You don't have a choice. You're coming home right now, and there's no argument. I just got a call from…" he paused, examining the audience, but Alex got the message all the same. With a resigned sigh, he pushed aside some of his bigger friends in order to reach his guardian. Although there was some variously distributed glares and mumbled threats, Wolf wasn't scared of the surrounding group. And for good reason – a few frustrated teenagers were hardly a workout for him.

"Okay," Alex conceded. "I'll come back. But only because I know how much Eagle misses me."

Alex said goodbye to his friends, knowing he'd be bombarded with questions when he got to school again on Monday. Sliding into the smooth leather seats, Alex made a decision. At the age of seventeen, he was mature for his age to say the least, but staying with Mia the night before had given her time to make sure he knew that he needed to loosen up. She wasn't part of his fan club, thankfully – their connection had started with James since they _were_ siblings, but she'd developed into somewhat of a friend. Not particularly close, but familiar enough to be able to hold an easy conversation with. "You're always worried about something, Alex," she'd teased lightly. "Don't you think you should be acting a little more your age?"

It was an interesting insight on her part, but he'd taken the words to heart. After he graduated he would be growing up pretty fast, and he knew his social life would become more limited. Now was the perfect time to have some fun… in fact, it was the only time he'd_ get_.

"Sorry for taking your car," he apologized, despite his last epiphany. He wasn't feeling particularly happy with the SAS soldier, but he _had _been in the wrong and he was probably going to end up doing it again at some point. Wolf grunted, but didn't reply otherwise. Alex crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed. He'd expected an apology in return. Wolf was making it clear that it wouldn't be that easy.

After a heavy silence, Wolf pulled into the driveway and Alex headed straight up to his room. Wolf didn't bother to say anything more to him. It was better to give the teen some time to get used to the house again before he tried to get a word out of him.

Fox was already in the kitchen, cooking. He was the unit's resident chef, even if he was limited to the basics of most dishes. However, upon finding food in the refrigerator, Ben Daniels had decided to make good use of his skills. They'd been drilled into him by his mother when he was younger, and he'd never lost them despite having lived off instant food for the past few years. Tonight he was preparing store-bought ravioli that looked ten times better than the Chinese food Wolf had eaten the previous night.

"You got Cub back," Fox said. The statement filled in the gaps, so Wolf nodded vaguely. Sitting down on the couch, he flicked on the TV, determined not to think about the blonde any more than he had to.

0o0o0o

* * *

Upstairs, Alex was lying on his bed, cell phone in hand. James had texted him, having missed the confrontation after school, and so had Mia.

_Hey. U okay?_

Alex internally smiled at the question. She didn't know a lot about him, but he figured it wouldn't be so difficult to believe he might not be. Mia had been in one of the closer classrooms the morning Wolf had "dropped in".

_Yup. Why? Worried about me? ;)_

The phone vibrated in his fingers a few seconds later.

_I think u can take care of yourself, alex._

_Got that right._

_Just thought I'd make sure. I gotta go take a shower, ttyl._

_Goodnight, mia._

She didn't respond after that, so Alex assumed she'd gone to sleep. Lying in bed, he contemplated ways to raise some hell. Wolf had dragged him back here – that meant that if anything happened to him, it was on _Wolf's_ shoulders. That meant any threats to throw him out of the house were just that – words. That fact alone was a very comforting thought – and a hopeful one. As ideas trickled into his mind one by one, Alex found himself becoming more and more excited for the days to come.

He fell asleep grinning.

0o0o0o

* * *

Wow! Great feedback! I got some really nice reviews :) Thank you guys so much for letting me know what you think about the story! Just a quick reminder – this story will not be AlexOC. OC's will be coming in and out of this story for plot purposes, but none of them become permanent fixtures, so you can put down the pitchforks :P

**Next chapter**: strip poker, copious amounts of alcohol, and Alex has _three missed calls_.

**Edited 6/19/12**


	3. Let's Eat Eagle

_Lying in bed, he contemplated ways to raise some hell. Wolf had dragged him back here – that meant that if anything happened to him, it was on Wolf's shoulders. That meant any threats to throw him out of the house were just that – words. That fact alone was a very comforting thought – and a hopeful one. As ideas trickled into his mind one by one, Alex found himself becoming more and more excited for the days to come._

_He fell asleep grinning._

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 4

**"Let's Eat Eagle!"**

The next day when Alex woke up, he turned on the light first before getting out of bed, deactivating Wolf's crazy alarms. He had a plan in mind, but it would have to wait until he got out of school. So, pulling on his uniform and tiredly stumbling downstairs, he regretfully forced himself to take the bus, the sluggish public transit resulting in lateness for his first class. He dealt with all the questions from his peers (as Alex had and always would be the most interesting subject for gossip in year twelve of Brookland Prep) and then arrived back at home in the late afternoon.

Wolf was already home, leaning over some papers and muttering to himself at the kitchen table.

"Hey," Alex greeted quietly. He and Wolf hadn't said much to each other since yesterday afternoon, but when Wolf looked up, he could tell not much had changed between them. Wolf was still a bastard and Alex was still a brat.

"Hey." Wolf didn't glance up upon returning the greeting, but then he paused, seeming to briefly contemplate something before peering up at Alex.

"Can you cook?"

"… Not amazingly, but yeah."

"Great. You're on dinner duty."

And then he went back to his work. Alex felt an irrational surge of annoyance. If Wolf had asked him like a normal person would have, he probably wouldn't have been so irritated, but being handed out chores like a child was exactly what got on his nerves. Wolf was not his parent.

"Screw it," he mumbled. "One more thing, Wolf. Are you working today?"

Wolf sighed, looking up again. "Yeah, I have to leave at around six. Why?"

"Just wondering."

Alex left.

0o0o0o

* * *

A few hours later, Wolf had migrated into the living room, where a vicious football game between England and America was playing loudly. Alex was entertaining himself by thinking of the American team as the CIA and England as MI6. He'd also renamed all the players on the screen. "Mrs. Jones" had already taken a ball to the groin, so to speak.

"Oi. I'm going, alright? Have some food made when I get back, or else."

Alex didn't respond. There was no "or else" – Wolf had to make sure he remained in one piece if he wanted to keep his status as a professional. As far as Alex was concerned, the man was barely a threat.

"Sure, honey. Drive safe!" Alex poorly imitated a girl's voice; Wolf retaliated by throwing him the middle finger. He opened the door and left without another word, so Alex picked up the remote and clicked the off button before grabbing the phone and going through the callers list. Fox and Snake were roommates, apparently, and Eagle lived with his longtime girlfriend, Sadie.

He dialed up Ben's number, waiting until the other man's voice came on the line.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ben. It's Alex."

There was a silence. "Is something wrong?"

Alex laughed. "Nope. Wolf's at work, and I'm bored. Wanna come over? It's England versus America tonight."

"… Will there be food?"

"We could eat Eagle."

Another short period of quiet as the soldier tried to gauge whether or not Alex was joking or not. "How about we order a pizza?"

Alex gave a long-suffering sigh. "_Fine. _I'm still gonna invite him though – just in case you change your mind."

Two more phone calls later and K-unit minus Wolf was gathered around his kitchen table, a game of poker in fast action while the sports announcer blared in the background. Snake, Fox and Eagle were holding beers, but Alex had yet to ask for one himself. Technically he was still underage – and although that had never stopped him before, he didn't know how K-unit would react, so he had decided to get them good and drunk before consuming anything himself.

Eagle was on his fifth bottle of the night. "I just… I don't understand _why, _you… you know? Wolf's always been a bit of an unfriendly bastard, but he was espe–espec–"

"Especially?" Fox offered brightly.

"–mean to you, Cub. An' I just don't _get it!_ You… you're likable enough. You're a good kid, you know that? I just don't unders_tand it!_ Wolf's always been a bit of an unfriendly bastard, but he was–"

"You're repeating yourself, Eagle," Snake deadpanned. "I fold. Can't even get two of a kind with this hand. Shit."

"You owe me fifty bucks, Snake," Alex hummed happily. Fox snorted.

"You _lost_, Snake!" he announced cheerfully, oblivious to the obviousness of the statement as he reached for his bottle. Alex frowned. Fox and Eagle were intoxicated enough, but Snake hadn't touched more than half of his bottle. He supposed being a medic sort of tended to turn him off anything that might constitute as self-harm. Subtly, Alex leaned forward and nudged the drink in Snake's direction.

"Oi, drink up, Snake. Losers have to drink."

"I didn't know that was a _rule!_" Eagle wailed, downing the remnants of his fifth. Fox looked disgusted when some of the alcohol hit his shirt, but a second later he was also throwing back his head in inebriated celebration. Both their heads snapped up to look at Snake, realizing for the first time that the man was still relatively sober, and started to chant,

"Chug, chug, chug, chug!"

Alex joined in as Snake steadily became more and more uncomfortable.

"I shouldn't, guys, someone has to drive–"

"You can stay here for the night!" Alex suggested gleefully. "It'll be like a sleepover!"

"Slumber party!" Eagle crowed, cracking open another beer. "_Let's do it!_"

Fox was still shouting. "Drink, drink, drink, drink!"

Finally, Snake cracked. His hand whipped toward the bottle as he up-ended it, some of the golden liquid escaping the edges of his mouth. K-unit chorused in cheers.

"We are gonna get you _SO_ DRUNK!"

0o0o0o

* * *

To avoid minor lawsuits, the author has been forced to insert a short, harmless time skip.

Two hours later.

* * *

0o0o0o

"OOOOOHHHH!"

Alex had been talked into taking a drink, which had predictably morphed into three more after that. They had at some point decided to play _strip_ poker, although in the morning it was to be expected that no one would remember who suggested to idea or why it would be any fun without a single female player.

Snake and Alex were still wearing the majority of their clothes while Fox was down to his boxers and Eagle had nothing but a pillow on his lap from revealing to the world what they really would be better off not seeing.

"Dammit!" Snake swore as Alex laughed, pointing at him and ignoring the man's glowering. He slipped his T-shirt over his head, throwing his hand down to the ground in frustration.

"Cub's cheating!"

"Am not!" came the obligatory response. Alex's face was flushed – he had taken off his shoes, socks, and hoodie, but he still had a shirt and jeans until he got into anything too embarrassing.

"I wish Sadie was here," Fox mumbled, throwing down the empty bottle he'd been clutching for the past ten minutes. "She's _so _hot."

"Shut your face, Fox!" Eagle snapped, red-faced. "That's my girlfriend you're talking about!"

"Chill, man! It's a compliment! No need to go loco on us!"

Alex seemed to find the use of the Spanish word a lot funnier than it was, because he collapsed to the ground in laughter seconds later. Snake was frowning down at him with unfocused green eyes.

"That's a lot of money you got there, Cub," he slurred, the picture of intelligence. Alex grinned, proud of the winnings.

"It looks like my plan _woooorked_ then!" he blurted out, throwing his arms into the air.

"What plan?" Snake was squinting at him in confusion.

"Well, it was like… it was like this: get you guys really drunk, right? And then convince you to bet a bunch of money in poker… and then cheat and win it and buy a_ car! _Not bad for a _kid, _am I right?"

Alex was clearly thrilled at the outcome. Snake looked shocked at the easy confession, but before he could say anything on the matter, Eagle distracted him from the declaration.

"Guys! Let's make rice crispy squares!" he howled, leaping up and darting into the kitchen. Fox, wearing nothing more than his red plaid boxers, had curled up in the corner, crooning the lyrics to some old eighties song while clutching a grapefruit he'd taken from the fruit bowl on the counter. Snake shot him a disturbed look.

Alex froze without warning, jaw going slack. "Do… do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Snake repeated, blinking.

Alex's eyes widened. He hugged himself. "… The wind."

The door suddenly slammed open, footsteps fast approaching. Alex's expression turned to one of horror, and he grabbed the money on the table before opening the door to the laundry room and stashing it in the dryer. Then he turned around, closing the door behind him just in time to catch Wolf's livid face as he entered the room.

Fox dropped the grapefruit. Eagle stared at Wolf, seemingly unaware of his lack of clothing as he stood holding a box of Kraft Dinner over his parts (hadn't it been rice crispy squares he wanted to…? Never mind). Snake was surrounded by the deck of cards, which were splayed out messily on the ground after the group had moved from the table to the hardwood floor at Eagle's unusual request.

There was a beat of silence, and then…

"_What the HELL is THIS?"_

Right then, Eagle passed out, thankfully hitting the floor face-down. Fox mumbled something under his breath – something along the lines of "_lucky bastard"._

"H… hey, Wolf," Snake began, smiling weakly. The dark-haired man was just barely keeping his breath even enough to avoid hyperventilation.

"If I don't get a motherfucking explanation in five seconds I'm gonna castrate Cub."

The teenager visibly blanched, positive in his current state of mind that the man would hold true to those worse. Snake gulped as Fox hastily attempted to defend them.

"W-well, Cub invited us over to watch the game and we – oh! Yeah! It's all _Cub's_ fault!"

"Fuck you, Ben!" the blonde cried, outraged.

"He tricked us!" Snake told him, nodding. "He told us there would be pizza!"

Wolf's eyes flickered over to the two empty pizza boxes lying on the counter. There was still some cheese hanging from the counter.

"Well, there _was _pizza, so I guess he didn't really trick us there, but he _did _offer us the beer, and–"

"The beer!" Eagle suddenly wailed, sitting up from his slumped position. "The beer! Where… where _is _the beer?"

"We drank it all," Fox reminded him. Eagle backed down again.

Another moment of silence ensued, and then Wolf's voice – calm and clear and compressed with controlled fury – said,

"This place better be clean by the time I get up tomorrow. No one here is leaving until this mess is gone. After that, crash on the couch or whatever – I don't want any of you trying to drive tonight – but unless things are back to normal in the morning and someone makes me breakfast, I swear I will personally inflict specific suffering on every single person in this room."

Eagle couldn't help himself. "But Wolf,_ technically,_ you're in the room too. Does that mean–"

He cut himself off at the look Wolf sent him.

"I'm going to bed now. _Do not_ disturb me." He stretched his arms, turning around and moving towards the staircase. After a few seconds, his footsteps had faded and the lights on the second floor went out. Eagle and Alex exchanged looks. Fox and Snake did the same.

"Well, with that out of the way, let's… let's get cleaning!"

0o0o0o

* * *

Wolf woke up the next morning, flicking on the lamp beside his bed and pulling on a pair of slippers to keep his feet from the harsh cold of the tiled kitchen floors. The lights were on below him, so he decided to go find out whether or not Alex and the rest of K-unit had done as he'd asked them to and made breakfast. Pulling on a housecoat, he walked over to the stairs, passing Alex's room and noting that Eagle had taken the bed – although he'd mercifully remembered to put on some clothes before doing so. He growled when he realized that they were his.

Slipping down the stairs, he looked around upon reaching the kitchen. There was a severely burnt egg on the stove, as if someone had attempted to make breakfast for him but forgotten about it. In fact, the stove was still on underneath the charred piece of nothing.

Taking a deep breath, Wolf maneuvered his way into the living room, frowning when he saw Snake and Fox cuddled on the couch and drooling on the cool leather. They were a little (a lot) closer than they would've preferred had they been awake, but it didn't look as though either was about to wake up anytime soon, so Wolf left things as they were.

He found Alex in the kitchen, passed out on the floor with a broken egg seeping into the tile not far from his head. His messy fair hair was splayed across his face, and he looked positively exhausted – enough so that even the hardened Wolf had to pity the seventeen year-old a bit. Leaning down, he roughly kicked the kid into wakefulness – his version of a gentle wake-up call.

Alex jolted awake, responding automatically by grabbing Wolf's leg and throwing him to the ground, hand snapping out to pull the gun placed in one of the robe's pockets and placing it against Wolf's head. The dark-haired man calmed his breathing, waiting until Alex was fully awake.

A minute passed before Alex realized where he was. He lowered the gun from its place at Wolf's forehead, dropping it next to him and sitting up with a groan. Wolf decided to follow Alex's example in pretending the last ten seconds hadn't happened.

"Ahh, _fuck,_" Alex moaned, shielding his eyes from the morning light seeping in through the window. "Hangover's a bitch."

"What'd you expect, kid? A consolation prize?"

"Well, you didn't have to kick me."

"I know I didn't_ have to_, but it made _me_ feel better."

Alex threw the man a weak glare through the gaps between his fingers, moving them so he was massaging his temples.

"Where… where's everyone else? What the hell happened?"

Wolf crossed his arms over his chest, tipping his head in mock-thought.

"Hm, well, let's recap then, shall we? You invited over my unit, got them completely shitfaced, trashed my house, and then collapsed on my kitchen floor."

Recognition dawned in his light brown eyes as Alex's mind started off into the process of recalling the previous night. "Oh, that's right! Damn, Eagle's a fun drunk."

"Shut up, Cub. Don't you have school today?"

Alex smiled. "Nope. It's Sunday, remember?"

"Whatever. Let's just wake everyone up."

Alex put his hands out for balance, drawing himself up while clutching the counters. He winced as a particularly painful throb hit his head.

"_Ugh,_" he groaned. "I've got to stop drinking."

Wolf raised an eyebrow. "Do you do this often?"

Alex gifted him with a dead look. "If I did, do you think I'd be such a lightweight?"

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I have no idea how much you drank last night."

A drawn out moan of pain emanated from the couch, and upon surreptitiously attempting to avoid confrontation with the whining pair, Alex found himself being roughly shoved in their direction. By the time he reached the two snugglers, Fox was already glaring at Snake, trying to shove him away.

"Get off me, you queer."

"I'm pretty sure it was you who instigated this position, Fox."

"You wish–"

"Shut up you guys. We all know K-unit is as collectively straight as a board." Alex looked pointedly in Wolf's direction, and then glanced away obviously. The dark-haired man let out an irritated growl as Alex placed his hands in the air.

"Aw, don't be mean to Wolfie. I'm sure it wasn't closet homosexuality that made him break up with his girlfriend. Oh, wait – it didn't go like that, did it? Right! _She _broke up with _him!"_

Snake and Fox broke into laughter, ignoring their leader's glowering. He leaned in towards them, hitting both upside the heads.

"Don't mock me, you assholes. How long ago was it that you managed to get a date, Fox? And you, Snake?"

"Last week," Fox lied smoothly. Snake glared at Wolf.

"I've been a little busy to let myself be distracted by my love life."

"Or lack thereof," a new voice joined the group. They all looked over to where Eagle was leaning against the doorframe, rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily. He yawned, holding up a hand in greeting, and made his way over to the group.

"I think it's kind of pathetic that Eagle is the only one out of your unit with a steady girlfriend," Alex informed them, lacing his hands behind his head comfortably. "I mean, come on… that's pretty sad…"

Three glares hit him with the force of a truck, and a moment later (after Eagle got the insinuation in Alex's words) a fourth joined in.

"Like you should talk, Cub!" Fox threw back.

"Yeah! It's not like I'm getting constant phone calls from girls for you here," Wolf said indignantly. Alex's eyebrows rose, and he reached into his pocket in order to pull out a small mobile phone.

"That's because they all call _my _phone. Let's check how many calls I've gotten in the past one night?"

_Seven unanswered texts. Three messages._

"And I checked this thing just before Fox came over last night. So I guess _I'm_ the most popular one in this unit, hm?"

"That's bullshit! Show us the texts!" Alex flipped open the phone again, pulling up his inbox and going to the first message. It was from Mia.

_Morning, sleepy. So what happened with that guy at school? If you need a place to stay tonight, we can share my bed again._

The group stared down at the text like they'd never seen an invitation to stay overnight with a girl before. Suddenly Fox was looking at him with all new eyes.

"_Wow._ Alright, alright… not too shabby, Cub. Let's see the rest then, if you're such a hot-shot."

The Green Eggs' girl had also texted him – Brooke.

_hey alex, remember me? was wondering if you wanted to grab breakfast? you have my number ;)_

"Hot _damn!"_ Eagle cried. "Cub, you fox!" Fox looked confused at this.

Alex nodded knowingly. "_Right? _Apparently I'm all the rage right now. You should see me at school."

"So you're popular?" Snake asked him.

"More than I'd like," he responded honestly, thinking of the crowd (mob) that seemed to follow his every move. Tom and James were his best friends, and although popular on their own, even they were forced to share a bit of Alex's _cursed _breed of fame just from spending a lot of time with him. Last week Tom had helped a little girl by untangling her kite from a tree, and it had ended up on the front page of the school paper. He had no idea how people had found out, as it had happened just outside his home, and he didn't live particularly close to the school – there was even a picture. Tom had been paranoid for weeks after.

"I noticed," Wolf muttered. The other football players were a little protective of him since he'd returned to school mysteriously injured so many times that now anyone who seemed to pose any kind of threat to him was immediately subjected to intense scrutiny and dirty looks. They would go farther, Alex was sure, if he actually gave them anything else to go on other than "oh, he's my new guardian, and kind of a dick. Not to worry."

Alex rubbed the back of his head, more because of the pounding hangover than embarrassment. If you asked him, Wolf had deserved the bashing his friends had given him behind his back, even if it didn't really matter to Wolf one way or another.

"Yeah. Anyway, I should probably answer these–"

"Wait, wait! We want to hear the rest! Play your messages!" Alex sighed. Sometimes Eagle reminded him of a five year old.

He opened the first one. It was Tom and James, both yelling into the microphone of the phone and sounding barely understandable.

"_Aleeeex! Alex-man! The Alexinator! DOUBLE-OH-ALEX!" _Alex raised his eyebrows at the enthusiastic greeting. _"We got your message! What the fuck, man? You're partying with some forest critters? What's your – shut up, James – what's your new address? We got foods and – James, shut the fuck up! – you've been drinking and… we've been drinking! Hahaha!"_

The message cut off, obnoxious laughter finally disappearing. Alex winced at the noise, followed by the rest of K-unit. He was shot disapproving looks.

"Forest critters? He was probably using our codenames. How much did you tell them?"

This time, Alex actually _was_ embarrassed. "I don't know, guys, I don't remember half of last night–"

The next message played. It was from Jack.

"_Hey Alex! I've been trying to get a hold of you all night. Is your phone off, or are you screening my calls? Anyway, mom and dad said hi – nothing's wrong, don't worry – just called to check in. Let me know if that SAS guy is giving you any trouble and I'll pound on him a bit. Love you! I'll bring you back a bobble head or something. Study hard in school you government rascal!"_

Silence met this message, and then all of K-unit burst into laughter. "Oh my god, Wolf being beat on by a housekeeper! Jesus Christ – Cub, you gotta introduce us! This girl sounds like a keeper!"

Snake elbowed Fox. "_'A keeper'? _You sound like an old man, Fox."

"Hook us up, Cub!"

"Can you say desperate?" Eagle stage-whispered to Wolf out of the corner of his mouth, grinning widely. Fox spun around and was preparing to make Eagle eat his words when the next message began to play. However, everyone was too preoccupied to listen.

"… _Hello? Uh, hi, I hope this is the right number… Alex? It's Sabina_…"

Alex froze, hand closing around the phone suddenly. He broke away from the group, much to their curiosity, moving into the kitchen to better listen to the message.

"_I know it's been a while – a couple years at least, right? So I… I just turned eighteen, and I'm moving back to England to study abroad for… well, you don't care. I just thought I'd give you a ring – maybe we could catch up?"_

Alex's eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates. Sabina – as in Sabina from Air Force One, the one girl who he'd completely put his trust in, the one who'd all but promised they'd never see each other again? And she was moving back to England? Suddenly his hangover seemed far away.

Alex bit his thumb when the message cut off.

"_My number's 020–688–1501. Oh, and Alex?... I've missed you."_

_Beep._

Shakily running a hand through his hair, Alex fought to keep from panicking. This changed everything – Sabina Pleasure, reentering his life? What if he screwed things up again? Now that he was officially working for MI6, he could just end up endangering her all over again. After all, he never really _had completely _gotten over her – sure, he'd dated around, even had a few one-night stands on the worst nights, but she was the _one that got away_. Years later and she was always lurking at the back of his mind, all tan skin and sleek black hair and _perfect_ figure. She'd been amazing, but he couldn't possibly…

Alex suppressed a groan.

Why did she have to leave her number? How could he possibly resist _that_ temptation? He was only human. On top of that, he was only _male. _He wondered what she must look like _now. _Eighteen would leave her completely finished maturing. The very thought made his eyes glaze over with unholy images.

"Cub…? Cub!"

Alex glanced up to see the worried faces of K-unit.

"What was that? Who left that message? Why do you look so weird?"

Eagle clapped. "I bet it was his long lost brother! That happened to me once before. I was sitting at home, watching a movie with Sadie, and suddenly my ringer went off–"

Alex couldn't bring himself to react with anything other than the shaking his head. He slid past the group and disappeared up the stairs without another word as the group watched him go, stunned into silence.

"… What just happened?" Snake asked no one in particular.

Fox blinked.

"…I have no idea."

0o0o0o

* * *

Monday came and Alex found himself walking out of the school after final bell with Tom, explaining the situation gingerly as though he was afraid the whole thing would shatter like a fragile dream at any moment. The message on his phone had been replayed about fifteen times already.

"So what the hell was up with you today? No one could reach you on Sunday, and in all our classes you were all… floaty."

"Floaty?"

Tom let out an impatient breath. "_Yes, _Alex, _floaty. _Did something happen with that Wolf guy?Is it MI6? Did they call in for another 'favor'?"

"They haven't phrased it like that for years, Tom. And no, nothing like that. It's… I got a phone call on Saturday."

Tom looked blankly at him for a second, but then it morphed into one of amused disbelief. "Oh, _that's_ what you're so worked up about? You mean when James and I–"

Alex cut him off. "No, no. It was… I… you remember Sabina? Sabina Pleasure?"

Tom's eyes lit up. "… Right, yeah! That hot older chick you used to tell me about! But didn't she move… Oh."

His blue eyes widened at the same that that his jaw dropped. If it had been any other situation, Alex would've burst out laughing at the comical face.

"Wait – are you telling me… she called you?"

Alex flipped out his phone and played the message for Tom, watching his face carefully. The dark-haired teen slowly took on a more serious expression. After a moment of silence, he looked up at Alex and asked quietly,

"What are you going to do?"

Alex couldn't help but nibble at his fingernails – an old habit that reappeared only when he was truly nervous. "That's just it – I don't _know!_ I mean, she's out of school already, and the last time we broke up it was because–"

"Wait. I thought you told me you guys were never officially a thing?"

"We weren't. It was – complicated. I just… I don't know what to do. When she was kidnapped by Cray, I was so… I just felt so… Shit, Tom, it was_ all _my fault!" he explained, obviously stressed out. "I want to call her up so badly, but I don't want her to get hurt like last time – she could've been killed, and life with me hasn't become any safer."

"Alex, I have a feeling Sabina realizes that. If she's willing to look past all that – even after the incident with Damian Cray – then don't you think you should give her a chance?"

Alex stared at him, a desperate battle for control raging inside his head. He could just picture the devil and angel perched on his shoulders – _phone her up. One little meeting will hardly kill you… or her._

But on the other hand… _It only takes on slip up. One well-aimed bullet, one crazy, revenge-bent mad-man. Is it really worth putting her in danger just to satisfy your own desires? You're better than that, Alex. _

_Stronger than that._

"I… no. No way, out of the question. Tom, she doesn't understand what she's getting into."

"I think she does. She's done it all before, right? Air Force One? Eagle Strike?"

"That's not the point! Sabina thinks that as long as I'm around, I can protect her from all that. That I'll always be able to save her in the end."

"And can't you?" Tom asked him, his large expressive eyes projecting scrutiny. Alex always thought Tom would make a good spy – he was powerfully built, and extremely intelligent, especially when it came to people. The only thing he really lacked was the most important trait and the most difficult to come to terms with: the hard, cold attitude it took to kill when necessary. He was glad Tom had never been dragged into anything like that. It was pure luck, really, considering the two were so closely linked.

But Alex had already come to a decision. He wouldn't let himself be selfish. She was better off not seeing him again – not when he was so deeply immersed in the spy world now.

"No. I was powerless on Air Force One, Tom. You weren't there – you don't know what it was like, not knowing if she was going to be killed just for _knowing _me. I won't put her through it again. She'll – she'll grow up and live till she's a hundred and ten and get married and–"

"Alexm" Tom cut him off, placing his hands on the other boy's shoulders. "You need to calm down. Nobody's in any danger. You're over thinking things again. If you really feel that way, there's nothing I can do, but I really only hope you know what you're doing. I just want the best for you, you know that."

Alex swallowed hard. "I know. Thanks… but I just can't. I can't."

Tom's eyes softened. "It's cool, man. Wanna grab a bite to eat, and forget about this for a while?"

Alex knew he wouldn't be able to clear his mind anytime soon, but nodded gratefully anyway. Tom was really was the best friend he could've asked for – somehow the boy always knew exactly what he needed to hear and when. Alex just wished that things could be simpler. Tom would've liked Sabina had they ever gotten the chance to meet, and he was sure it would have been the same for her.

"Yeah… Let's go."

0o0o0o

* * *

Silly drunk forest critters! Cx A friendly reminder that Sabina is not the center of gravity for this story – I just wanted to try my hand at some Alex romance since I bet he'd be one charming bastard in real life and I'd like to write him as such. I'll do my best to make Sabina's character unique, so please place your trust in me for a little longer!

Now please review for me, my most beautiful readers? This chapter was a ball to write… I do love banter.

**Next chapter:** Teenage scheming, Alex stress-cleans, and oh dear… how _does_ he know how to shoot like that?

**Edited 6/20/12**


	4. Past and Present

_Alex had already come to a decision. He wouldn't let himself be selfish. She was better off not seeing him again – not when he was so deeply immersed in the spy world now._

"_No. I was powerless on Air Force One, Tom. You weren't there – you don't know what it was like, not knowing if she was going to be killed just for knowing me. I won't put her through it again. She'll – she'll grow up and live till she's a hundred and ten and get married and–"_

"_Alexm" Tom cut him off, placing his hands on the other boy's shoulders. "You need to calm down. Nobody's in any danger. You're over thinking things again. If you really feel that way, there's nothing I can do, but I really only hope you know what you're doing. I just want the best for you, you know that."_

_Alex swallowed hard. "I know. Thanks… but I just can't. I can't."_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 4

**Past and Present**

Alex was shoving Sabina's message to the back of his mind. But while he was doing everything in his power to keep her face out of his head, but he couldn't bring himself to delete it completely. In the meantime, he'd been distracting himself in any way possible. This was how K-unit found him the next day after school.

"Cub…?"

"What the actual fuck."

The house was all but sparkling. Since Alex had returned home two and a half hours ago he'd been cleaning without pause, stopping at the store on his way home to pick up supplies. The fridge was stocked and even covered in brightly-colored magnets shaped like letters. They had been moved to spell the words **EAGLE, TAKE A SHOWER.**

Eagle saw it and growled, turning to face the evil teenager. Normally he would've laughed, but today he'd brought along a guest – his girlfriend. It was obvious he was now regretting it, however.

Sadie Ramsden was an old friend of Snakes' introduced to Eagle by said soldier just over a year ago. They hit it off instantly and have been dating ever since. She seemed to balance Eagle's hyperactive nature with a calmer personality, polite above everything else – in most cases, that was. Sadie was no pushover, and not easily intimidated (at least not anymore). She'd long since grown immune to the empty threats of K-unit and the near-constant play-fighting of the four "boys".

"Cub!" Wolf barked. "What the hell did you do to my _house?"_

Snake seemed at a loss for words. It was Fox who finally spoke. "It's… _clean."_

Eagle was frightened. "Sadie, hold me!"

Sadie gave the soldier a flat look.

Alex was standing on a chair, cleaning the top halves of the windows separating the living room from the front yard. He had a paper towel in one hand, the roll and a bottle of Windex balancing in the other. There was an iPod poking out of his pocket and the chord from the white headphones perched in his ears hung down just below him, but instincts let him know someone was behind him so he turned around, homing in on the stranger.

Eagle was standing beside Sadie almost territorially, though the girl didn't look put out or impressed, just used to it. She had fair hair that hung down to her mid-back in a flat plait and gray-blue eyes, freckles dotting her rounded features.

Hopping down off the chair, he pulled out a headphone and asked, "Who's your friend?"

Eagle beamed happily. "This is Sadie. Sadie, this is the kid."

The woman, shorter than Eagle but tall in her own right, held out a hand to shake his. He looked down at them and then back at her, as if conveying the message that he was in no position to exchange handshakes, and she seemed to get the message because she pulled her hand back a second later, seemingly embarrassed by the thoughtless action.

"I've… heard a lot about you," she offered, smiling weakly, and Alex felt a bit bad. He was sure Eagle would have mentioned him more than once, and he hadn't said more than "who's this"? It wouldn't due to make her feel so uncomfortable in a place that she'd probably spent more time in then he had.

"Same here," he told her. "It's great to finally meet you, Sadie." He didn't mention that the most he'd heard about her was Fox's drunken babblings about her figure.

Fox interrupted the introduction with a question of his own. "What's wrong with you? Why are you cleaning like this?"

Alex looked around the room, proud that he'd managed to cover so much ground. Even though Jack was his housekeeper, she was also his primary guardian and had recognized that they wouldn't be living together forever. So she'd begun taking time out of her day to teach him how to clean himself. It was already coming in handy. He was also the self-proclaimed King of Laundry.

"I just needed something to do," he produced, shrugging vaguely. "Why? Are you _really_ going to complain?"

Fox fell silent. Wolf moved toward the fridge, pulling out a coke and shaking it in K-unit's direction.

"Anyone else want one? Guys? Sadie?" Alex nearly laughed out loud at the fact that Wolf had purposely avoided the six-pack of beer at the back of the shelf. He was probably _still_ annoyed about Saturday night.

"I'm fine, thanks," Sadie replied.

"Me, me!" Fox put up a hand. Wolf ignored him, earning him a dry look from Alex. He didn't seem to have any kind of huge problem with Alex cleaning his home – no _normal _person would, anyway, but you never knew with Wolf. Steal a car _once_ and you're labeled public enemy number one.

"So, Cub… don't you have homework or something?" Snake asked him, taking a seat on the couch while the rest of K-unit followed along with Eagle's girlfriend.

"Finished it in class," Alex responded, wishing he hadn't for something to divert his attention from the phone call while moving to pick up the beat-up old broom he'd found at the back of the closet in the laundry room. Wait – the laundry room. He felt something nagging at him from the back of his mind. Had he meant to do laundry? It felt as though he'd forgotten about something important, but… he'd just done a load on Friday, hadn't he?

"That's lucky. You can stop cleaning now, you know."

Alex looked down. He'd begun to sweep without even realizing it. Shaking his head, he continued the task, mumbling under his breath,

"No, I can't."

Fox caught it. "Why not?"

He sighed, pausing in his endeavors. They weren't very subtle for people that worked with ticking bombs. He often forgot that the SAS were better known for their work kicking down doors than their skills in psychological tact.

"I just need to get some stuff off my mind, that's all."

Fox looked like he wanted to say something more, but the look Snake gave him kept him quiet. He was off the hook… for now. Changing the subject, Alex used all the diplomacy he'd earned himself over the years and asked,

"So, Fox, Snake. Eagle and Sadie; they're cute. You guys have any… attachments?"

Snake laughed out loud. Fox elbowed him in the side, glaring, before turning to Alex and replying glumly,

"Not at the moment. I was dating this one girl, Alyssa, for a while–"

Eagle coughed abruptly. _"Four days – cough, cough!"_

"_But_–" Fox cut him off sharply, "at the present moment? No one in particular. I like to play the field, like you."

Alex veered away from the topic of himself. "Snake? How about you?"

Snake shook his head. "Nah. I was married once, but it didn't work out."

The teenager looked faintly surprised. Snake was the oldest one in the group easily, but he couldn't have been over thirty-four or thirty-five. He knew for a fact that Eagle, being the youngest, was twenty-five, but no one seemed to notice the age difference. They were all still almost all in their twenties, and extremely fit to add on to that. It didn't seem that any of them smoked or anything of the like either. _Aside from a little "social drinking" from time to time._

"Oh yeah? Care if I ask why?"

"Well, for one, she cheated on me," Snake stated bluntly. Alex looked taken aback, while Fox blew a strand of dark hair from his face with an exaggerated eye-roll and a resigned, "_Oh boy._"

"Don't let him get started, Cub," Wolf advised, taking a sip of his coke and taking in Snake's ruffled appearance with a critical eye. "He never really did _get over it._" The last three words were ground out with a meaningful look in Snake's direction.

"We were married for two whole years! Just because I was absent a lot did _not_ mean she could sleep with our neighbor. Who was, coincidentally, my _brother._ Yeah! Picture that!_"_

"I'd rather not." Alex admitted. "Shit. That sucks, Snake. What happened in the end?"

Snake looked disturbingly satisfied. "Oh, my brother moved to Egypt – he's an effing _treasure hunter,_ did I tell you that? _Tch_ – and Sarah lost her job when she stopped sleeping with her boss. I think she's living with her parents right now, but I can't be sure."

Listening to them like this, Alex was reminded that they had become more than "Wolf's teammates" or "Wolf's annoying friends". They had histories just like him, and he found himself genuinely interested in them. When did he decide he liked the three enough to care about their pasts? Shaking the thoughts off, he stood up and fetched himself a glass of water, dumping it down his throat.

"That's harsh. So – wait – then who's Tammy?"

There was a silence, and then Eagle and Fox started to laugh. Snake explained hastily as though Wolf would jump on him any second now (and he was probably correct in this thinking, if the murderous expression on Wolf's face was anything to go on).

"Tammy was Wolf's girlfriend up until about five or six weeks ago. She's still a bit of a sore spot with him."

"Really?" Alex knew this would be something worth learning about – even Sadie had broken out into laughter, dropping beside Eagle on the couch. "Did she cheat on him too?"

Snake shook his head. "No, nothing like that. See, the girl was totally crazy – Wolf's sister's friend's cousin or something way too complicated like that. She was clingy and bitched about every last thing – but she was _hot. _That's probably the only reason why Wolf didn't break up with her sooner."

Wolf turned red. "Hey, that is _not_ true. We had some good times…"

"In the _bedroom,"_ Eagle cackled. Fox was howling. Snake continued on over the noise.

"You don't even understand,Cub – this chick was completely screwed up. She used to talk about how she was once a famous chef in Australia – she couldn't even cook an egg. Remember Wolf's breakfast on Saturday morning? Like that, but _every time_."

Alex swallowed. That egg had been a safety hazard. "That bad?"

"And that's not the half of it. I remember Wolf telling me she'd come in the middle of the night and throw rocks at his windows to wake him up so they could go out. At what, four A.M.?"

"Oh, and remember that one time when Wolf told us he came out of the shower and she'd written on the mirror in toothpaste 'I love you'? He said he was positive he'd locked the door. That lock hasn't worked quite right since," Eagle added, grinning.

"Alright, alright, you've had your fun. That's enough now, you guys," Wolf warned, clearing his throat. Eagle put his hand up, trying to choke out another story, but Wolf kicked him, forcing the man to fall back onto Sadie's lap.

"Aww, Wolf, that _hurt…!"_

"Don't kick him, Luke," Sadie said disapprovingly. "His medical bill's already cutting into my savings as it is. We're broke."

_Money. _Alex remembered now. When Wolf had crashed the party on Saturday, he'd crammed all his winnings into the dryer!

Standing up abruptly, Alex mumbled something about the bathroom and took a detour around the stairs before opening the other door into the laundry room. He tore open the door of the dryer, and to his shock (and relief), wads of twenties were crammed inside, the bright colors making his mouth water.

The original plan had worked: get K-unit really drunk, use the skills his uncle had taught him to cheat at poker, and then win a ton of money to put towards a new car. He was surprised he hadn't remembered sooner – then again, Sabina's text message had kind of provided a good distraction. Backing away from the machine, he grabbed a bag from the shelf beside it and quickly stuffed the bills into it, enjoying the feeling of the rough paper against his fingers.

A part of him felt slightly guilty for doing that to the three men, but all he had to do was remember the days at Brecons Beacons to be reminded that they'd sort of had it coming. They were alright now, and Alex had a borderline friendship going with most of them, but he also knew the SAS were far from poor – he was easily able to assume Sadie was joking about the broke comment by noting her clean, elegant appearance and the silver string of jewels hanging from her neck. He could see from the recognizable labels that her clothes were expensive brands, and Eagle seemed like a pretty generous guy.

He darted upstairs to his bedroom in order to store the bag at the bottom of his laundry basket. It was a safe place – Wolf wouldn't _dream_ of touching his laundry, never mind cleaning it for him – so he descended down the stairs again in a better mood than before. He had money to work with now; his plan had worked perfectly. Add that to what he had saved as spending money from his missions since becoming officially employed by MI6 a year ago and he had enough for a decent car.

K-unit plus Sadie were looking at him suspiciously when he walked in.

"You keep a lot of secrets," Snake noted, breaking the silence. Alex looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his head and giving a weak smile as he settled on the couch. He wracked his brain for the excuse he'd used, but the next few words offering them seemed too good to be true.

"You really needed to take that call, huh?" Alex glanced over to Fox, who was eying him carefully. He immediately seized the opportunity, smiling and waving the man off.

"… Oh, yeah, Tom needed to vent a little. He's alright now though."

After a second, the group burst out laughing for the second time that day, causing Alex's face to quickly redden. What had he –

Oh… that's right. He'd told them he was going the bathroom.

A pout worked its way across his face, and he crossed his arms over his chest, clearly aggravated.

"Shut up!" he wailed after another minute of the uproar, throwing his hands into the air hopelessly. It wouldn't have been so funny if Alex hadn't pulled off the lie flawlessly. They'd have believed him without a moment's notice had they not known better, and this fact seemed to add a little bit of nervousness into the laughter, putting in that slight touch of hysteria Alex could feel. After another minute he simply stood up and walked out, mumbling under his breath.

"For the love of… that's it, I'm done."

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex was in history class, chewing a piece of gum that had lost all taste just over ten minutes ago. He was thinking about what Wolf had told him just before he left for school that morning. K-unit was going on a mission. It was pretty straightforward so they wouldn't be gone more than two days, but the absence was being covered by an armed guard that would be positioned outside the house for however long Wolf would be gone.

When the second bell rang signifying lunch break, Alex joined Tom at the door, grabbing an orange out of his backpack when the teen opened unzipped it to take out his sandwich. He didn't protest the action past anything other than an uncommitted glare, so Alex concluded something must be bothering him.

"What's up, Tom?" he asked his best friend. Tom released a resigned sigh, his shoulders sagging in defeat. Alex's eyebrows rose – that had been a fast change. Fortunately, Alex had dealt with Tom's theatrics long enough to not be affected by them. He was only really dramatic when he was trying to cover up actual hurt.

"It's bad, Alex, its real bad," he started gravely. Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his friend.

"You know Cady?" Alex _did_ know Cady – everyone did. The girl was captain of the girls' football team, tall and lean with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. She'd been going out with Tom for the past six weeks, and it had seemed to be going well –

"I caught her making out with _Colin Odribege!"_

Alex blanched. Colin wasn't a particularly bad guy. He'd never attempted to worm his way into Alex and Tom's group before, but he'd never openly shown dislike for either of them, so he wasn't sure why either of them would pull something like that. Tom was great, and he'd treated Cady perfectly fine – hanging out with her often enough, but not so much that they grew sick of each other. Plus, it had only been six weeks, and nobody responded well to being cheated on. Alex thought of Snake's animosity toward his ex Sarah and had to give Tom a sympathetic look. Alex had never been cheated on – that he knew of, that was – and until then, neither had Tom.

"I know!" he wailed, burying his face in his hands. "It was horrible! His hands were _all over her, _Alex! And to think I could have gone my whole life without that image in my mind! Oh, how I took those days for granted. You really don't miss something until it's gone."

"Yeah, yeah," Alex pacified him. "Cady wasn't that great anyway. She was boring; you can do better."

Tom sniffled, turning his eyes onto Alex. He looked like a kicked puppy.

"You think so? I mean, what do you think I did wrong? Was I too overbearing? Too unresponsive? Did I joke around too much? Was I a bad kisser?" He looked terrified. "Alex! What if I'm a bad kisser and I don't even know it? Alex, kiss me! _I need to know!_"

"Shut _up_, Tom," Alex cut him off, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure you're fine, so calm the hell down. Cady's just a girl, remember? And not even a really special one."

"You get all the good girls, Alex," he mumbled, shooting his best friend a withering look. Alex knew he was kidding, and only needed to blow off some steam, so he forgave the comment without another thought.

"Not true. Anyway, I'll prove it to you. You'll be going out with someone new by the end of the week."

Tom looked at him sideways. "Oh yeah? How do you figure that?"

He offered a grin that told stories of grudges avenged in the most gruesome of ways. "Because I'm going to _make _it happen."

0o0o0o

Later that day, Alex was back at home, closing the door behind him just as he heard a loud yelp emerge from the kitchen. "Damn it, Snake! Watch where you point that thing!"

Alex walked into the room, looking around and realizing that no one was in the house – the French doors in the back were open wide to reveal sunshine for once. He wandered outside to spot Snake, Fox, Eagle and Wolf all playing with heavy weaponry.

Snake had dropped his gun with the safety off and it had shot a bullet into the clouds, the noise thankfully covered by the silencer placed on the gun. Snake threw Eagle a look that conveyed both an apology and the insincerity of it while Wolf glanced over at him, smirking. "Hey, Cub. You can look, but you can't touch. Leave the toys to the big boys."

The blonde flipped him off, walking to where a table and chairs was set on a deck that had clearly been built at home. He supposed that being a mechanic had probably inspired Wolf to learn how work with wood, too.

"I would, but I think if I was to try and take the gun _out _of your hands, you'd throw a temper tantrum."

It took a moment for Wolf to understand his words, but when he did, he growled. "Watch your mouth, brat."

"Will do, Wolf."

"Hey, Cub," Eagle called, and Alex spared him a glance. He recognized the gun held grimly in the man's large hands – it was a Browning High Power, a fairly common handgun in the SAS. "You ever played with guns before?"

No one doubted he had. Underage or not, Alex was a spy, and he'd probably become acquainted with them earlier than seventeen. Only Wolf had actually seen the blonde hold a gun before though – when the alarm had gone off the first morning Alex had woken up in his house, and of course the morning after Alex's little reunion with K-unit. He had no idea how accurate Alex's aim was, though.

Alex himself didn't like guns. He'd used them many, many times, but he never felt good about it. Every time he managed to take down an enemy in order to save himself or others, he was reminded that he'd been rescued by Scorpia's training. With this, they had left their mark on him in more than one way with guns.

The flicker of unease that passed through his eyes went unnoticed by K-unit. "Yeah, a few times. Why? Inviting me to practice with you? For _real?"_

There were six targets set up thirty feet across from them, tacked onto the trees that lined the fence surrounding the surprisingly large yard. With the length, it cut in right between two houses, taking up a space that most likely would've been occupied by another house otherwise. The fence was high enough that no one could see inside, and the gate was padlocked with three different locks.

"Why not?" came Fox's lighthearted question from a few feet away. "Show us what you've got, Cub."

"I'd rather not," Alex admitted. Ever since Malagosto, Alex had never actively tried to practice his shooting – those skills seemed to be burned into his blood, unforgettable even if he wanted them to disappear. He tried to avoid weapons in general, preferring to work with his less-deadly but just as effective hands.

"Come on, we'll stick to the targets, we promise!" Eagle whined, clapping his hands together pleadingly. Alex looked a little uncomfortable, but he stood nevertheless, moving over to where the bulletproof vests and pulling one on himself (finding it somewhat annoying that it seemed to fit him perfectly). The more alien the firearm world was to him, the better – though it seemed the universe was making it difficult for him to be bad at this kind of thing.

He took the gun Snake passed him, ignoring the stares of K-unit as he evened out his breathing, weighing the metal in his other hand. Something seemed to change in his demeanor – the teasing, chocolate depths burned out into a burnished, sharp gold, different from the ones they recognized. His stance was confident, dangerous, and suddenly the Cub they knew was gone, replaced by this stranger holding the Sig Sauer P226 and looking for the world of him like it was nothing other than an extension of his own arm.

Then, without warning, his hand shot up and he fired off one, two, three rounds, eyes narrowed with deadly precision. However, something in his mind snapped, and the last two bullets veered off so that they barely made it onto the targets at all. He stood in silence for a second, completely quiet as it stretched into ten. Then, just as Wolf opened his mouth to break the silence, Alex's laugh filled the air.

"Looks like I'm not as good as I thought I was," he said casually, looking over the six targets. K-unit followed his gaze, having yet to get a good look at them for fear of missing a change in Alex's expression, but now they found that he hadn't shot three bullets – he'd shot six. The first four had completely taken out the small black dot in the middle of the target, leaving clean punctures in the thick material, but the last two were completely off course, as though someone had bumped into Alex while he was still firing.

He turned away, dropping the gun on the table with a little more force than necessary.

"I'll make some lunch," Alex offered as he disappeared behind the doors, all traces of the change gone from his body. Snake was the only one to notice his one tell of unease – Alex had run a hand through his blonde hair. He only did that when he was feeling stressed.

"What was _that?"_ Eagle exclaimed. "Were you guys _watching_ that? He just – he was – what the _fuck!"_

"That was definitely weird," Snake agreed more clearly, nodding his head. "His entire disposition was different. Alex seems to have a history with guns – why do you think he refused the first time around?"

"I don't know," Fox murmured. "The last two shots were totally unnatural. It's like he suddenly woke up and missed them on purpose or something."

Alex was inside the house, listening to their analogy carefully. Fox had no idea how close to the truth he really was – he'd lost control for a few seconds there, but not at the end – at the _beginning_. It was like his instincts, shaped and molded from his days back on Malagosto had taken over, leaving his own mind blank with something bigger than him, something stronger. He hadn't even realized he'd raised his gun until after he'd fired off the first four shots.

Heart beating erratically in his chest, Alex opened the drawer with the pots and pans, trying to calm his frazzled nerves. His hand was trembling lightly, but he bit down on his tongue, trying to pull himself together. How had he never realized such a gaping weakness? What if he had reacted like that with Wolf that day with the alarm? Could he have killed the man without even thinking about it?

"Oh god, stupid, stupid, _stupid…_" he muttered as he leaned over to pull out a pan, banging his head on the counter. He stood up, rubbing his forehead before flicking on the stove.

"I hate guns," he whispered, looking down at his hands. They weren't shaking anymore, but suddenly all he could see was the dark metal of the weapon, glinting perilously in the sunlight. He had never let himself dwell on the kills he was forced to make in his line of work, but now, he wondered if he could even if he wanted to. What did he think about when he was shooting the henchmen rushing him without hesitation? Even focusing hard, he found that he couldn't actually remember.

Alex moved over to the fridge, pulling out the cheese and weighing it in his hands, wondering if he had enough for five people. It was the same as what he'd done with the gun –

"_God dammit!"_ he groaned, dropping the cheese on to the counter and fishing around for the turkey and the lettuce. It was once again a distraction – cooking and cleaning made for great diversions.

Ten minutes later, an unusually quiet K-unit shuffled through the doors, having finished packing away the guns – _and gossiping about my life, _Alex thought mutinously, _but what else is new?_

Fox smile. Or tried, more accurately – it looked more like he'd just tried to swallow an entire ham in one bite. Alex bit back a grin at the thought, nudging the four plates on the counter in their direction, and each person filed past to collect their sandwich.

"Thanks," Snake, Fox and Eagle chorused. Wolf grunted. He probably would have made the same noise if he'd walked into a door.

"No problem," Alex returned, pulling off the casual act flawlessly. After a minute more of tense silence, Eagle stood up, dropping his sandwich in favor of glaring at him.

"You know what? I don't even care. It doesn't affect me at all."

And then he walked out the door. They all stared after him in astonishment… until a moment later when he reappeared, picking up his sandwich and storming out all over again. Snake watched him critically.

"He _would_ come back for the sandwich."

"What was _that_ about?" Alex asked, pointing in the direction Eagle had disappeared, despite having a pretty good idea. It was always better to have people underestimate your intelligence than overestimate it or, worse still, actually have a pretty good idea of it.

Wolf sighed, also standing up. "If you don't know, I'm sure as hell not about to explain it to you, Cub."

He walked out of sight, his footsteps echoing up the stairs. Snake spared him one last unreadable glance before also leaving with a detached "goodbye", and Fox left with him. Alex was alone again.

He rubbed his face.

"Shit."

0o0o0o

* * *

Is – is that… is that _angst?_ Aweh, the first inkling of real drama appears! Prepare for more to come, my most perfect readers and reviewers. Thanks for the feedback, you are all too wonderful! this chapter is pretty short, hope nobody minds.

**Next chapter:** Teenage ragers, action with Green Eggs' and… K-unit has a plan?

**Edited 6/20/12**


	5. Teenagers

"_You get all the good girls, Alex," he mumbled, shooting his best friend a withering look. Alex knew he was kidding, and only needed to blow off some steam, so he forgave the comment without another thought._

"_Not true. Anyway, I'll prove it to you. You'll be going out with someone new by the end of the week."_

_Tom looked at him sideways. "Oh yeah? How do you figure that?"_

_He offered a grin that told stories of grudges avenged in the most gruesome of ways. "Because I'm going to make it happen."_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 5

**Teenagers**

The gun fiasco happened earlier that day, and it was now evening. K-unit was assembled at the front door, each carrying a duffle bag between them. They were dressed fairly casually – Alex assumed they would change when they got to their destination.

Wolf gave him a passing glance. "We're going to be gone until tomorrow night. Make a mess, clean it up. Bye, Cub."

"See ya, kid," Eagle mumbled as they turned to the door. It seemed they were all still annoyed at him for staying quiet about his ability to work a gun like he could work a game controller.

"Yeah, later," he replied despondently, lazily waving back and closing the door behind them. Then he immediately pulled out his phone, dialing the familiar numbers quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tom. Remember when I said you'd be going out with someone new by the end of the week?"

Tom sounded hesitant. "… Alex? Did you use your super spy skills to kidnap me a girlfriend?"

"Do you want me to?"

This earned him a laugh. "Alright, yeah, I remember. What's your plan?"

It was Alex's turn to grin as his mind raced with ideas for the night. "Well, my ass of a guardian's gonna be gone until tomorrow night, and I was thinking we might throw a little party – but you've got to make me one promise…"

0o0o0o

* * *

It was eight P.M. at the Wolf-Cub residence, and people had just begun to file in. Alex was standing in the kitchen, chatting with a bunch of friends. There was a loud knock at the door, but whoever it was didn't wait for him to answer because a second later Alex heard the door slam open and a voice howl in a singsong voice,

"ALEX! Guess what I brought!"

Alex followed Tom's call into the other room, grinning widely when he noticed just what it was his friend was dragging behind him: a beer keg just under half the size of Alex.

"Holy – where the hell did _you_ get_ that_, Tom?" James exclaimed from his place on the couch. Tom was looking pretty pleased with himself as he pulled the weight into the kitchen, hauling it onto the counter and snatching a plastic cup from the bulk packages another friend had brought in behind him.

"You all remember Jerry, right?"

Alex burst out laughing, and Tom shot him an annoyed look. "_Tom and Jerry hahaha!_"

"Alex hasn't already drunk anything, has he?" Tom asked with an impatient smile that promised pain to whoever had offered it to him. Alex's best friend was hyper twenty-four seven, but even that didn't compare to the rowdy Alex Rider people had deal with when he was wasted. K-unit had only seen him a tipsy as it was. He'd been told that once, during a _really_ wild party, Alex had gotten up onto the table and grabbed the chandelier, climbing up and writing ALEX RIDER IS BIGGER THAN YOU on the ceiling in sharpie. Nobody missed the implications of the statement – including James Hale's parents.

Alex was shaking his head. "Aw, Tom, come on, you know I can't handle that Tom and Jerry stuff. Anyway, I'm not even gonna drink that much, I swear. I'm still recovering from Saturday."

Tom's eyes snapped back to him from where they had been lingering on the backside of one of the new girls. "What? Last Saturday? Why didn't I hear of this?"

"Don't worry, it wasn't a party. It was… weird. You couldn't have come," he promised the dark-haired teen, who was still looking downtrodden despite reassurances. Alex smacked him on the back, making him break out into choking coughs.

"Aw, _don't be sad! _There's always tonight for you to be totally irresponsible!"

And irresponsible he was. Someone had discovered Alex's iPod and hooked it up to the surround sound the house had come with. More and more people arrived upon hearing that Alex Rider was having a party – he was usually more of a crasher than a host, so it was an event to say the least – and the night wore on as everyone steadily grew more and more intoxicated.

While Alex had experimented with the occasional drug, he'd never let himself become attached to anything, and certainly didn't allow it in his house – or Wolf's for that matter. Drugs were too destructive for him, so he waved off the heavy stoners when they made it to the door at two A.M. He was buzzed, but certainly not drunk, when the Green Eggs girl – Brooke – arrived, long chocolate hair loose and hanging just past her shoulders. She had pale blue eyes that had locked on him with an almost predatory gleam, and her clothes certainly complimented her better than the green shirt of her employment did.

"Hi, Alex," she greeted shyly, having received her invitation just over an hour ago. He smiled, pulling her inside.

"Glad you could make it," he returned, working hard not to let his eyes blatantly wander over her body. She agreed, moving into the kitchen by his side on long legs trapped in dark jeans. He slipped an arm around her waist, clearing his voice and announcing to Tom and James,

"Guys, this is Brooke. Brooke; the guys."

They nodded at her, offering smiles, and then Tom turned back to the girl he'd been talking to – Mia. She grinned, throwing him a thumbs up when she saw Brooke before turned back to Tom and laughing at whatever he'd said. She was cute, he would admit, but he knew Tom would appreciate her more than he would. Besides, it wasn't like he was alone. Brooke was humming happily, her eyes fixed on the alcohol situated on the counter. They made a mock toast.

"To… tonight."

"To tonight," Alex repeated, voice laced with approval. Their glasses knocked against each other, drinks spilling over the edges and onto their fingers, and the night began.

0o0o0o

* * *

– Three A.M –

"And he was just so _mean, _you know? Treated me like some kind of… of… object! Like something he _possessed!" _the brunette vented, slamming her fist down onto her knee. Alex had been listening to her talk about this ex of hers for the past ten minutes, and would have probably been a lot less sympathetic had he not gone back for more after the initial glass of beer he and Brooke had shared earlier.

"Then why do you keep going back to him?" Alex asked, leaning in with glassy eyes to listen more closely. Brooke rubbed her face from where she was situated on his lap. The two were lounging on the couch lazily, one of the last few to vacate the party – not that _they _planned on leaving.

"Because – I mean, we've had better times. He can just be so nice to me, 'n then the next day, just so _mean…!_"

Alex ran his fingers through her silky hair, agreeing softly. It was easy to tell she was in love with this "Brett" and that she was hardly ready for a serious relationship with Alex – in fact, it wasn't even him who instigated anything. She was clearly on a rebound, so when her eyes locked on his, friendly and defiant at the same time, he wasn't surprised. She invited him to lean down just as she tilted her head back. Their lips met for a full ten seconds, and the two broke apart for nothing apart than air.

"Not bad, Rider," Brooke stated, grinning.

"I've had practice," he replied, drawing a giggle from her. He suddenly stood up, arms wrapping around her so she was suspended against his chest bridal-style, and then she was outright laughing, playfully pushing away from him as she started wailing.

"Hey, let me go! Al_eeex!" _

They were kissing before he made it to the stairs.

0o0o0o

* * *

"Does anyone else here think that was _way _easier than the lieutenant told us it would be?" Eagle complained, yawning as he pulled at Wolf's sleeve. "Wolf, I want to get an ice cream."

"Get it yourself!" the man retorted, pulling away from him as Eagle fussed.

"But I have no money!" he moaned. "It's not fair! You get paid an extra bazillion just for looking after the kid!"

The assignment had been to take down a grow-op on the east side where a teenager had locked his girlfriend in the laundry room. Apparently she'd found out what he was doing and had intentions of ratting him out or something like that. It wasn't their job to know the details – they arrived late into the night so as to take the kid and his gang by surprise. It had been completely successful, and they were back a lot quicker than they'd estimated. B-unit and F-unit had been there too.

"_Not _a bazillion," Wolf assured him, "and even a bazillion wouldn't be enough. It's definitely not worth it."

Snake gave him a mocking look. "Wolf, it's obvious you like the kid."

"I do _not._ I hate him," Wolf stubbornly argued, crossing his arms over his chest. "He jacked my car."

"But he cleaned your house and cooks for you. What more could you ask for?"

"That he _leaves?"_ Wolf suggested, pushing them back as he shouldered his way through the door and towards his car.

"Shotgun!" Eagle called as K-unit piled into the Camaro. Wolf started the engine while Snake glanced at the time built into the dashboard, commenting,

"You know, we told Cub we'd be back later tonight, but it's only eleven A.M. Maybe we should go out for breakfast or something?"

"I just wanna go home," Fox admitted. "I'm exhausted. Haven't slept in what, nineteen hours?"

"Well, neither have we, and you don't hear us bitching about it," Wolf muttered. K-unit look at him, surprised at his bad mood, and he adjusted the mirror so that Fox and Snake couldn't see him from the back seat.

"Just tired is all," he grumbled after a second in response to their curious looks. Comfortable silence accompanied them for the majority of the ride until Wolf pulled around the bend, approaching his house.

"We can just eat at my place," he said to them. "I'm sure Cub's gotten up and made something by now."

They pulled into the driveway and Wolf absently noticed an empty beer can lying on the ground near the house. As they approached, he couldn't help but feel a prickle of doubt on the back of his neck – an instinct, honed from training for the SAS, told him to be uncertain about entering this ground. Wolf wondered what Alex could have done this time, quickening his pace in order to reach the door faster.

His hand reached out to grasp handle of the door, pulling it open roughly before throwing himself inside. The house was–

Clean?

Wolf's bachelor pad was as tidy as ever – maybe cleaner. There was the heavy scent of Fabreeze, and something else – but it was like someone had gotten a little too excited and sprayed everything in a ten-foot radius. He recoiled from the strong smell, pushing forward.

"Cub?" he called into the house, receiving no answer. He glanced in the living room and the kitchen, the rest of his team following carefully, but things felt still and all life strangely muffled. He wondered if the kid might've stayed overnight somewhere – then it hit him it was entirely possible Alex hadn't woken up yet.

He moved towards the stairs, arriving on the second floor and approaching Alex's room. He did not wait or knock before kicking the door open, and was therefore unprepared for the sight that greeted him.

"Cub, goddamn it! It's almost–"

Alex was standing in the middle of the room, sending Wolf a look of irritation. He'd just pulled on a pair of loose, dark blue pajama pants, but he hadn't yet pulled on a shirt. Just then, Wolf's gaze noticed a scar on his chest, and he slowly raised a finger to point at the offending blemish.

"… Hey, wait a sec. That's… that's a bullet wound scar – but its right over your … holy shit, Cub, how'd you–"

Alex was rubbing his face. "Look Wolf," he cut him off tiredly, "now's really not the time to be asking questions. I'm kind of in the middle of something–"

"In the middle of what?" he asked incredulously, aggravated with Alex's evasion tactics. "That's a serious injury! How old is it?"

"_Wolf–_"

There was a cry from outside the room, followed by two more – Wolf turned around the same time Alex shouldered past him.

"Alex!"

Brooke had just left the bathroom wearing nothing more than panties and Alex's white long-sleeved shirt, only buttoned half-way. It was too big for her of course, and slipped off one shoulder – all the more justification for her next action of grabbing his arm and pulling herself behind him with a squeak. Four men in their mid-twenties had suddenly filed into the house, and she'd been spotted on her way back to Alex's bedroom.

Alex was glaring at the three men. "I thought you said you'd be gone until tonight?"

"Alex, aren't these the same guys who…?"

He glanced down at the girl, eyes softening when he saw how nervous she looked. Tucking a strand of chocolate hair behind her ear, he told her quietly,

"Yeah, don't worry about it. The one with the stupid expression lives with me; the three ogling you are his friends."

K-unit all simultaneously flushed, and Snake, Fox and Eagle all averted their eyes while Wolf seemed to inflate with anger.

"Cub! This is _not_ funny! Since when – and hey! I don't live with _you, you_ live with _me!"_

"Wolf, go downstairs," he deadpanned.

"Cub – is that scar right above your _h–"_

"Snake,_ I will tell you later_. Could you please give us a minute?"

Snake nodded uncomfortably, and the four headed back down the stairs, minds collectively spinning with the last few minutes' information. Eagle and Fox took a seat at the table across from Snake and Wolf, who both held expressions as if they'd just been caught in a four-hour rainstorm.

"I can't believe he'd just take a girl back here – this is _my _house, and I have ground rules, damn it!" Wolf was muttering under his breath. Eagle appeared unsympathetic.

"Uh, Wolf, I don't remember you _actually_ specifying that particular–"

"Shut _up_, Eagle!"

The truth was, although they'd read the texts and seen the kid at school, it was difficult to accepted that the spy still did normal teenage stuff like that. He was supposed to be special – different from other kids his age. It didn't make sense for them to find him so – even with a girl his own age – … it was just _weird!_

A couple minutes later they heard Alex's hushed voice from the doorway, all automatically perking up to heard the words.

" – orry about that. Wolf's not really known for his tact, after all… anyway, I'll see you around?"

"Sure… thanks for last night, Alex, it was really, um, fun… but you know, with Brett and stuff… I'm not really looking for a serious relationship."

"Nah, that's cool," they could practically hear Alex smiling. "You're talking to a guy, remember?"

They heard her light laughter, seemingly relieved that she'd managed to get that off her chest. There was a silence – probably occupied by a kiss, if they were to guess – and then Brooke's footsteps backed into the doorway.

"I'll call you, Alex. I still wanna be friends, you know that, right?"

"Of course. Bye, Brooke."

The door shut, and they heard Alex's feet hitting the ground as he appeared in the doorway with the addition of a loose T-shirt. He looked angry, though Wolf wasn't intimidated. He _did _manage to get the first word in.

"You asshole! Bringing girls back here–"

"What's wrong with that? I was under the impression you wouldn't be back until late."

Wolf looked slightly taken aback at the logic, but he persevered. "So what! That doesn't give you the right to–"

"To _what, _exactly? Have a little fun with a girl my age? Calm _down_, Wolf, it's not like I set the house on fire!"

Wolf glared at him, his harsh expression stubbornly remaining in place. Eagle made a sound – muffled laughter – and Fox was openly smiling now. He stood up and elbowed the teen suggestively.

"Damn, Cub. Not only did you manage to get some, but you even managed to find a girl _not looking for a relationship!_ You're an effing genius!"

"I've been told," Alex replied absently. "Anyway, moving away from the topic of my sex life, how did your mission go?"

Wolf wasn't the one to answer – he was currently, for lack of a better word, pouting. Snake cleared his throat and replied,

"We were taking down a guy with a hostage holed up in his grow-op. It was fairly straightforward, and the negotiations went more smoothly than we thought they would, so we came back here early. None of us have slept much in the past twenty four hours – but then again, neither have you, right Cub?"

Alex dropped his face into his palms as Eagle burst out laughing. Fox broke out into loud, "'_ooohhh!"_s

while Wolf remained stoic, glaring at his feet. Snake tossed him a teasing grin.

"You know we're just messing with you, Cub. Anyway, I hope you weren't cheating on anyone to score last night, or I might have to beat the shit out of you a little."

Sabina's face briefly passed through his mind, but he expelled it just as quickly, shaking his head. "Hell no – I wasn't lying when I said I was single. God forbid I _actually _be tied down."

"Single and still getting action – Gah! Have I ever told you how much I hate your guts, Cub? You're so_ lucky,_" Fox groaned, banging his head on the kitchen table. Alex smiled.

"What can I say," he said cheekily, moving over to the sink to rinse an apple. "I've got the luck of the devil. It runs in the family."

He knew that last night hadn't been much more than a fling for Brooke, but he didn't mind since it was in a way similar for him. Sleeping with the Green Eggs' girl had been a way to take his mind off of Sabina and her recent call – he still didn't know what to do about that. It had been a couple days and he hadn't returned the message, so he wasn't sure what she would say. He really _did_ want to see her, but at the same time it would be such a bad idea to let her get involved again. It wasn't as though it had ended well last time.

"He's out of line is what he is," Wolf commented, snatching up the knife Alex had been reaching for to cut up his own apple. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Cutting up your fruit, Wolf?" Alex bit hard into his apple. "Wuss."

"I swear, Cub, if you don't keep your mouth shut, I know another way I can put this knife to use."

Alex laughed, glad that things had settled down. K-unit seemed comfortable enough around him, and once again his plan had worked. Wolf didn't suspect a thing – the house was as clean as it had been the night before. Tom and Mia were snogging by the end of things, and made plans to continue once Mia regretfully left later that night. Tom had kept up his side of the deal – he'd convinced James to help him clean up the house while Alex and Brooke stayed upstairs, and by the time Alex had left his room the next morning, he was pleased to see things were in order. Alex had thrown a party, Tom had found a new girl, and everything had – for once in his life – actually gone according to plan.

"You know what? You're a problem child," Eagle accused. "We should send you to boarding school."

"I've already been to boarding school," Alex replied, glancing at Wolf as he remembered Point Blanc. "It didn't help much. Anyway, I gotta get out of here – places to be, people to see, you know?"

"More like people to _do,_" Fox snickered.

Eagle choked on his drink. "Fox!"

Alex threw him a dirty look. "You're just jealous."

"That I am."

Alex left, leaving K-unit to their own devices. Wolf was still generally annoyed, but he seemed to be feeling a little more reasonable now that Alex had left. He crossed his arms and sat down, leaving the partially cut apple on the counter after having lost his appetite.

"You better throw that out," Snake reminded him. "Do you want to get ants?"

Wolf rolled his eyes but complied, grabbing the apple off the counter and opening the cupboard door under the sink. Then he spotted the garbage.

It was stuffed with crushed red plastic cups and empty beer bottles. There were crumpled pizza boxes and the entire cupboard reeked of alcohol. Wolf stumbled away, looking positively dumbfounded for the second time that day.

Eagle looked scared. "Wolf? What did you see? Was it my goldfish that I flushed down the toilet that one time?" He turned to Fox with an angry expression. "_Damn it, _Fox! _Why _did you let me _do_ that!"

Fox rolled his eyes, standing up and approaching the sink. Then he glanced beneath it, his eyes instantly widening exponentially.

"Looks like little Cub had a party while we were out, kids," Fox slowly grinned.

"He is _so_ dead. _So dead."_

"Aw, Wolf, calm down. He cleaned everything up, right? No harm done–"

"No!" Wolf argued, glaring at Fox. "Not 'no harm done'! I don't care if he cleaned up – do you know what could have happened? What if a drunken teenager happened to find one of my guns? Get a little frisky in _my_ bed? Or eat that piece of pizza Snake left in the fridge?"

Snake immediately stood up, dashing toward the fridge and wrenching the door open. When he looked inside, his face grew grim, and he turned to look at Wolf slowly.

"Now it's personal."

Wolf nodded. "He's gambling, he's sleeping with girls, he's drinking underage and he's throwing parties. In _my_ house."

"He's a teenager," Fox continued to defend Alex. It was Eagle and Fox versus Wolf and Snake – a fairly even match.

"No, he's not! He's a spy, and we've got to stop him before something goes seriously wrong! He can't have one foot in one world and one foot in another! We have to figure out something that will make him act his age…"

K-unit offered dry looks.

"… Alright, that was a stupid thing to say. Let me rephrase: what can we do to get him acting more responsibly? What can make a teenager act like a civil human being?"

"Alright," Snake began, "let's look at this from a different perspective. Take Eagle – he acts like a teenager half the time, right? What makes him get serious?"

Eagle's indignant cry of "hey!" was ignored as the group thought about it.

"The battlefield," Fox offered hesitantly. Wolf stared at him.

"… Right, so let's just grab a handful of terrorists and _throw _them at him, that'll solve _everyth_–"

"Let's not get sarcastic now," Snake reminded, "we don't want to sink to his level. We're better than that."

K-unit exchanged nods before Fox continued. "Well… Eagle tends to shut up when we feed him?"

"Seriously, you're full of bright ideas today, Fox!" Eagle commented. Fox flushed, whacking the twenty-five year-old on the arm.

"I don't see you contributing any great ideas here!"

"Shut up! It's not my fault!" he turned away from them. "Anyway, I have to meet Sadie in about an hour, so I can't stay much longer. Call me when you figure things… out… what?"

The group had paused, staring at Eagle as if he'd suddenly sprouted wings and turned into his namesake. Eagle was cluelessly staring back. What was the big deal? He met up with Sadie after _every_ mission.

"Eagle… that's it. _That's_ what we need to get Cub to take things seriously! I mean, Sadie has you completely _whipped_!"

Snake and Wolf were nodding at Fox's epiphany. Eagle had, as usual, yet to catch on, looking from face to face in wonderment.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"All we need is to get Cub a _girlfriend!"_

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex was standing in a used car lot. He'd been looking at different cars with the salesmen for a while now, but they were either out of his price range or out of style. He ground his teeth – the salesman, a Mr. Jim Hershberger, was busily chirping on about some stupid bug-like car.

"Mr. Hershberger–"

"Alex, buddyboy! Please, call me Jim!"

He stared at the man for a moment more; amazed at his energy (was he high, maybe?) before continuing, "I don't see anything I can afford around here. I think I might have to take my business elsewhere, but thank you for your time."

Jim Hershberger was now wearing a slightly strained smile, his eyes taking on a more desperate glint. "Aw, come on, Al! I haven't even shown you the 2001 Bl–"

"There's no need," he dismissed, turning around and heading towards the edge of the car lot as he prepared to walk to the tube. Hershberger was hot on his heels.

"Now now, let's not be hasty–"

Alex turned around, now feeling positively annoyed. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when his eyes caught on something behind the man. It was a sleek, dark blue Ford model – a Mustang, he was sure, but he couldn't place the year by eye. Pausing, he pointed at the vehicle, inquiring lightly,

"Well, I guess I have a minute. Can you tell me about that one right there?"

Hershberger turned around, fixing his gaze on the car. He smiled, all anxiety draining from his tiny eyes at the prospect of a potential sale. Leaning towards it, he explained to Alex, "Oh, that's a… 1969 Ford Mustang, I'd say. Sixty-three thousand miles and purrs like a kitten. Black leather seats – a little beat up, but nothing too difficult to fix – least not for a man like _you._"

Alex's eyebrows rose as he took in the information. Not bad – not bad at all. It was an old car for sure, but it was in decent condition for forty years.

Hershberger unlocked the car, allowing Alex to put the key in the ignition and start it up. It ran a little roughly, but it wasn't anything a good mechanic couldn't sort out – and he knew just the one. The radio blared brightly, heat and air conditioning busted but also fixable. Hershberger offered him a Cheshire Cat grin.

"She's certainly you. A real beauty."

"Are you hitting on me, Mr. Hershberger?"

Hershberger laughed heartily like the two were old friends. "Alex, you're great! But I'm married – I have two kids."

Alex doubted this, but nodded anyway, focusing back on the car. He wanted it, but he feigned doubt to get the man to lower the price as much as possible.

"I don't know… it's _okay, _but I wanted to hold out for my perfect car. Plus, I don't have a lot of money right now…"

Hershberger nodded sympathetically. "I see. How does fifteen thousand sound?"

_Like a complete rip off,_ Alex thought, but instead gave the man a lopsided grin.

"Five thousand?"

"Definitely not less than ten!" Hershberger argued.

Alex held up six fingers.

"Eight and five hundred!"

Alex shook his head. Hershberger looked frustrated – a teen with his first car should've been easier than this.

"Seven-thousand – final offer," he said, looking defeated. Alex smiled, stepping out of the car and twirling the keys on his finger.

"Okay. Shall we discuss payment options, then?"

0o0o0o

* * *

Exactly a week later an update appears! _I rock_. Oh, and I'm running low on my fix, so if anyone knows any good Alex Rider fics they could recommend, I would not complain :)

Alex finally gets a car! About time, hey?

**Next chapter:** Jack, more of K-unit's ingenious scheming, and hey! It's everybody's favorite psycho ex-girlfriend!

**Edited 6/21/12**


	6. Stealing Alex's Phone

"_Eagle… that's it. That's what we need to get Cub to take things seriously! I mean, Sadie has you completely whipped!"_

_Snake and Wolf were nodding at Fox's epiphany. Eagle had, as usual, yet to catch on, looking from face to face in wonderment._

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"_All we need is to get Cub a girlfriend!"_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 6

**Stealing Alex's Phone**

K-unit had hijacked Alex's mobile phone and was now running through the contacts, trying to find a name they recognized, _someone_ they could call. They caught Tom and James – two names they had heard Alex say at some point – but then they saw Jack. Hadn't Alex told them that was his guardian? The one that was staying in America until MI6 sorted out all the people out to get Alex?

Clicking the number in the contact list, they put the phone on speaker and listened as the beeping signified the call waiting. All four men stared down at the device angrily before repeating the process again, and receiving the same answer.

"Let's just wait a few minutes until he gets off the phone, and then we can talk to him," Snake suggested, naturally assuming the name Jack was in reference to a man. Ten minutes passed and they tried again – still busy. They watched TV for another twenty minutes before they dialed the number once more and–

"Busy! What the hell? Who's on the phone for this long?"

"A chick?" Wolf muttered. Finally, forty-five minutes after the first attempt at a phone call to Jack, they got through, and a distinctly feminine voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

The group was momentarily stunned, until Eagle hastily spoke into the phone,

"Uh, yes, is Jack there?"

"This is her," the voice responded. K-unit looked around at each other – maybe it for short for Jacqueline? Unusual name or not, they were speaking to Cub's guardian. Fox was the next to speak.

"We're calling about your ward, Alex."

There was a pause, and then in a more hushed voice, she asked frantically, "Why? Has something happened to him? Is he alright?"

Fox couldn't help but laugh at the assumed destruction that preceded calls mentioning Alex. "Don't worry ma'am, he's perfectly fine. Actually, he's been getting on our nerves lately."

Jack was relieved to hear they weren't calling to tell her Alex was in hospital again – she had just begun to relax back in America, and her parents were grateful for the chance to see her again, even if it was under these unusual circumstances. However, they soon discovered that although the woman loved Alex to pieces, she would not tolerate her surrogate brother abusing his temporary guardian.

"Is that so? You have my permission to beat him then," she answered, sounding perfectly serious. Eagle started to laugh too and Snake grinned while Fox stifled his own smile.

"We've found a solution to the problem that's – ah – relatively non-violent. However, we need your help."

"As long as it doesn't involve money, guns, spies or peanuts, I can help."

Fox stared into the phone for a second before repeating uncertainly, "… Peanuts?"

"I'm allergic to peanuts," the woman supplied simply. "So, what did you need?"

Eagle took the phone from Fox, responding easily, "Well, we've decided that if Cu – Alex was to get a girlfriend, she'd keep him out of trouble… for the most part. Unfortunately, none of us in K-unit – we're the group that's been put in charge of Alex – know any teenage girls he might like. He had a girl over last night…" At this, Wolf made a face.

"… but clearly, it's not leading anywhere, and Alex even said he didn't want to be tied down."

Jack snorted. "He lied to you."

Silence reigned. After a moment Eagle uncertainly cleared his throat, picking up the phone and replying,

"… I'm sorry?"

"He lied. Alex is all about relationships – he's had three girlfriends in the past year, and one way back when… well, there's no reason to give out all the details…"

"No, no, there is!" Eagle insisted, clutching the phone tightly as if squeezing information directly out of the source like it was pulp. "Anything on Alex's love life would be great. How did they end?"

Jack seemed to be considering things. "Well… the latest one was because the girl moved away, and they mutually agreed a long distance relationship wouldn't work out. The two before that Alex broke off himself because… well, because he didn't like the girl, I suppose. Melissa and Samantha, I believe their names were. Sam was a nice girl though, American just like me, so I just couldn't understand why he wouldn't want…"

Fox and Eagle looked at each other the same time Wolf and Snake did. They'd found a reliable source of information in this Jack – and as long as they had good intentions, they were sure they could find out anything they wanted surrounding Alex Rider's love life from this woman. They'd struck gold on their first try in Alex's phone.

"You mentioned another one?" Wolf began in a gruff voice, and Eagle winced at how unfriendly he sounded. Jack didn't miss a beat, though.

"Well, yeah… I mean, you can understand how Alex's relationships with girls operate knowing that he's a spy. They revolve around whatever careful web of lies he's laid out for her to eat up. There's only ever been one girl to know the truth about him and, to a certain extent, know the real Alex."

_The one that got away?_ Fox mouthed the rest of the unit as Snake pressed for more information.

"… Is that so? And how'd that end? Did she get scared and back out?"

If anything, Jack might have sounded a little defensive. "No, nothing like that. I'm not sure how much you people know about Alex's history, but when he was fourteen, he went on a mission officially labeled _Eagle Strike_. This was a terrorist operation headed by a man called Damian Cray, and following of a series of events, the girl was caught up in the whole mess along with Alex. They ended up on Air Force One alongside the assassin who killed Ian – Alex's uncle – and she and Alex just managed to fight their way out. In the end, Sabina moved to America."

The four men were left to digest this information. Damian Cray, that peace activist whose car went off the road in that snowstorm? Whatever actually went down, it was clear _that_ story that was nothing more than a cover up.

"… Air Force One – _the presidential jet?_ _Assassin?_ Are you joking?"

"Would I joke about something like this, Mr. K-unit? Anyway, Sabina Pleasure moved to America with her parents, and she and Alex lost contact instantly."

"She sounds like a real firecracker to have kept her cool through something like that," Fox commented. Jack smiled on her end while Eagle rolled his eyes and mumbled quietly,

"…'_Firecracker'. _You and your old man terms, Fox…"

"… Yeah, Alex was really smitten. She should be turning nineteen in a couple months, I don't know exa–"

"Wait a minute," Fox interrupted rudely. "Age fourteen and Cub was already getting older chicks? Good God!"

Eagle hit him. "Shut it, Fox! Is there any way we might get in contact with this Sabina, Ms…"

"Starbright, respectively, but I'm probably younger than you men, so call me Jack."

"Alright, Jack. A number maybe…?"

Jack went quiet, seemingly giving it some thought. "Well, I don't know where she is right now, and I don't have a number for you, either, so… it's probably for the best. Don't you think you should talk to Alex about this before contacting her? I mean it's been three years, I think this is something a little more complex than that."

"Even so, Jack. Alex has been acting out of control – he needs this. We think this would be good for him."

"Who's to say she isn't happy with another boy somewhere in America? How would the two meet up when they're living separate lives in separate countries? I think it might just be a better idea to give up on this whole thing…"

"Jack, please, this is too precious to give up! Young love! It's to be cherished! We have to at least get them talking over the phone. Are you sure there's nothing else you can tell us?"

"I'm afraid not," the woman responded. "Anyway, I only want the best for Alex, and this is probably a bad idea anyway. He never really _did_ get over her, ever since–"

Just then, the sound of a car rolling into the drive way alerted them all of Alex's return. There was a predictable eruption of panic as Eagle literally jumped, juggling the phone comically. The mobile hit the ground with a loud crash, and Jack's voice was drowned out by a frantic beeping and a mechanical sounding voice.

"_You have –no– new messages. To listen to older messages, press–"_

Eagle had attempted to pick the phone up again, but Fox's hand had hit his, smacking it out of his hands. Pretty soon a new voice was floating into their ears, high and nervous.

"… _Hello? Uh, hi, I hope this is the right number… Alex? It's Sabina_–"

Everyone in K-unit froze, struck by the name they'd been discussing for the past ten minutes. The message carried on, giving out more and more information as Alex's footsteps continued to rapidly approach the door.

"–_just turned eighteen, and I'm moving back to England to study abroad for… well, you don't care. I just thought I'd give you a ring – maybe we could catch up?"_

"Grab the phone!" Wolf's voice hissed, and Fox and Eagle both leaned down at the same time, foreheads connecting with a dull _thud. _They both hit the ground groaning just as the doorknob was turning –

"–_number's 020–688–1501. Oh, and Alex?... I've missed you."_

Snake managed to grab the phone and press the end button just as the door swung upon. Alex greeted them with a loud,

"Guys, I know you're there! You _have _to drop everything you're doing and come see this _right now."_

Suddenly, K-unit (minus Wolf) was hit with an unexpected pang of guilt. Alex had left his phone in the house trusting that no one would use it to pry into his life. Now he had returned, and he was treating them like they hadn't just tried to contact his old ex with full intentions of meddling.

A little uncomfortably, the four moved towards the door where Alex was standing proudly. They spotted the blue car in the driveway and realized now that no one else was in it – they had naturally assumed Alex had gotten a ride from a friend like he'd been doing the past few days.

Wolf wolf-whistled – no, seriously, he did. "That's a Ford Mustang, circa nineteen-sixty… eight? Sixty nine?"

"Sixty-nine," Alex confirmed brightly. "Isn't she great? Got her for just under seven thousand. In alright condition for forty years, eh?"

"Shit, Cub."

Alex laughed. "Yeah, no kidding, right? Anyways, Wolf, I was wondering if you might give her a quick look over – I'm not willing to trust _anything_ that salesmen back at the car lot told me was true. The air conditioning and heating are both busted for sure though, and I think the right headlight might be a little weak. I can pay you..."

"Damn right you're gonna pay me," Wolf grunted, but the nearly undetectable bounce in his step betrayed his anticipation at exploring the old model. The paint was in perfect condition at least, glossy dark blue glinting in the sunlight. Alex stood next to the car with Wolf, admiring his purchase gleefully.

"My first car," he said happily, wiping away imaginary tears. "I feel like I should be taking a picture."

"Don't worry Cub," came Wolf's voice from where he was bent over the hood of the car, hands moving over the engine as he checked for anything out of place, "I have cameras wired all around this place. Smile," he finished dully.

Fox leaned over to Eagle, murmuring quietly, "You've got a good memory, right Snake?"

Catching the message, he nodded and added in an equally muffled tone, "_020–688–1501."_

"Perfect."

0o0o0o

* * *

Later that night, Alex retired to his room to finish up on some coursework. K-unit was gathered in the living room, watching the game on TV, but it was with a detached kind of cheer. All of them were thinking about "Sabina" and her connection to Alex. It was Eagle who finally gave in.

"We have to call her!" he exploded in the middle of the power play, not bothering to elaborate on who he was talking about. Fox immediately sat up, pulling out his mobile phone from its place in his pocket and flipping it open.

"I completely agree. Snake?"

Snake began reciting the numbers while Wolf merely scowled, clearly annoyed with the entire thing. It was he who decided to intervene.

"Guys, we can't just call this chick up randomly, we have to have a plan. You heard that message – it was a week old, and Alex hasn't answered it. Maybe he doesn't want to see her."

"So?" Eagle intervened. "He'll change his mind if he talks to her, for sure."

"There's got to be a reason as to why he wouldn't contact her sooner though," Wolf argued. Snake and Fox looked thoughtful, but Eagle didn't seem daunted.

"Maybe he – oh, shit, guys – remember that one time when he was showing us those texts he was getting from those girls, and then we asked him to play the messages? There was one from another chick, one from his drunk friends, and one more…"

"But he broke away from us to listen to it…" Snake added slowly.

"… and has been acting weirdly ever since! There _is_ some weird reason! _That_ was the message?"

"So now that we know the message freaked him out and that Sabina is somewhere near us – we just need to get them to meet. Yeah… they'd catch up, hit it off, get back together and then Cub would stop being so much fun!"

Somehow to the minds of K-unit, this sounded like a very good outcome. They all nodded, collectively agreeing that this was a good idea, but any semblance of a plan had yet to be formulated. It was Snake who first decided to voice the obvious.

"Uh, guys? How are we going to get them together if Alex doesn't seem to want anything to do with her?"

Fox stared at him. Wolf averted his eyes. Eagle complained being hungry. It was a grim situation, but it was true – the four had no clue how they would make anything happen. Snake thought about it hard: what did they do in the movies? They could call Alex and ask him to meet them at a restaurant, and then not show and tell the girl to go instead… but that would be difficult considering they had never spoken to her before.

"She doesn't know who we are," Snake began, "so she's not about to meet with some strange guy who happened to get a hold of her number. It's Alex she wants to talk to, so…"

"We could call her and tell her Alex asked us to find out if she wanted to get together, maybe?" Eagle suggested. Fox didn't bother to hide his disdain at this idea, turning with a scowl on his face and responding,

"That would never work, Eagle. She knows who Alex is – I don't think she'd be so stupid as to agree to meeting him without talking to Alex herself."

"One of us could pose as him on the phone!" Eagle added brightly, looking pleased with himself. Snake still seemed uncertain, however.

"I don't know… none of us really sound like him, do we? Nor would we be able to pull off the amount of sarcasm he uses in the span of an hour. It's been three years, yeah, but I think it's safe to assume that if Cub was interested in her, she's not stupid."

"Maybe she was just really hot?" Fox's comment went ignored. Snake tapped his chin in thought, trying to work out some method that allowed the two to meet without seeming too suspicious to either party.

"We have to somehow ensure that the two meet _'by accident'_," Snake said, making quotes with his fingers.

"Then maybe we can look her up, and find out where she lives. We could do a stake-out, and when she leaves, two of us could follow her until she stops at a café or something. Then the other two could ensure Cub makes it to the same place!"

Eagle looked around the group excitedly as though the plan was foolproof. Wolf rubbed his forehead tiredly, gazing at his teammate with a flat expression.

"Honestly, _that's_ your bright idea, Eagle? There's a name for that kind of thing, you know. It's called _stalking."_

Eagle looked affronted, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the dark-haired man. "Well I don't hear you coming up with anything better! We have to try it – it's our best bet."

They didn't look thrilled, but the three nodded anyway. Wolf turned around, walking over to the drawer with all the coupons before pulling out the one just below it. There were some old bills, a parking ticket he had no intention of paying, and a phonebook. Retrieving it, he hefted it on to the table and let it fall with a loud _clunk, _dust puffing out from the edges. Snake wrinkled his nose.

"Is this even from this year? If she just moved, I don't think she's gonna be in any other than the latest one."

Eagle's head snapped up. "Oh, I have that one! Sadie got it yesterday. Lawyers – always got to have their phonebooks, you know."

Fox stared at him. "… No, I _don't _know."

"You do now."

"Can we please get serious?" Wolf interrupted the banter. "Fine, we can take my car to Eagle's place then. Let's just find this Sabina Pleasure's address, and then do Fox's stupid plan. I want this done as soon as possible."

Snake leaned forward and grabbed Wolf's keys off the counter before bolting in the direction of the door.

"I call driving!" he roared, wrenching open the front door with Wolf hot on his heels.

"Shotgun!" Fox and Eagle wailed at the same time before exchanging glares, competitive gleam evident in both their eyes. Both immediately took off booking it to the car behind Snake and Wolf.

"Damn it Snake! It's _my_ car,_ I'm_ driving!"

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex entered the kitchen, looking around and finding it empty. He shrugged and instantly moved to the fridge. Inside he found a hot pink post-it hanging from the top shelf with the small, neat printing of Fox.

_Alex – put this in the fridge because we knew this was the first place you'd look. Went out for dinner, hahaha you weren't invited._

_Love K-unit :-)_

Alex gave the note a disbelieving look, tearing it off the plastic shelf and stuffing it into Fox's leftover takeout from the other night. Grumbling to himself, he retrieved the milk cartoon and took a swig coughing into it when he suddenly heard the doorbell. Taking it away from his mouth, he slowly set the jug down onto the counter. Then he closed the fridge and wiped the milk off his face.

"None of the guys would bother with the doorbell," he mumbled, making his way over to the door, "did Eagle order a pizza and then forget about it before leaving? Sounds like him…"

Glancing through the peephole on the door and finding it black, Alex immediately fell into defensive mode, deliberately reaching out for the drawer on the table next to the door and retracting one of the guns from its place of residence. Keeping it behind his back, he carefully reached out and opened the door.

A tall woman stood before him, her hand falling from where she'd had her finger poised over the small glass eye built into the door. Her long, glossy auburn hair was left down and the tight black blouse she wore looked more than a little sinful clasped around luscious curves. The first three buttons were left intentionally undone, revealing more than was probably considered classy, and she topped it off with white jeans that hugged her hips like they'd been sown on. Somehow Alex recognized her, but he just couldn't place the face.

Icy blue eyes greeted him curiously.

"And just who are you supposed to be?" she asked, raising a perfect eyebrow. So she didn't know why he'd be here – that meant she was looking for Wolf. Alex didn't let his guard down just yet, instead opting to tuck the gun behind his back, hidden halfway by his jeans. He tried not to stare, but it seemed as though that's what she expected with the way she was dressed – maybe Eagle _had_ ordered something. Just not a pizza.

_But that's so… nah, couldn't be. Besides, Eagle's with Sadie, and Snake wouldn't let that happen,_ he justified, pulling open the door to let her inside. So, what did he know so far? He had a guest; coincidentally a potential supermodel and she didn't know anything about him. So far so good.

"Wouldn't it be more polite to introduce yourself before asking me my name?" he asked languidly, and she smiled tightly in response, walking into the house as if she had lived there all her life. It seemed as though ringing the doorbell had been difficult for her to do, and in the end she wouldn't allow herself to come off as such a stranger that she needed to be inspected from the inside first – hence the finger-over-peephole strategy.

"Men," she said, tsking, but anyone could tell she wasn't disheartened in the least. "You can call me Mrs. Novara, kid. Now what are you doing in Luke's house, and where is he? I have to talk to him."

Alex led them into the living room, popping the milk back into the fridge before retrieving two glasses from the cupboard and filling them with water.

"Luke's not home," he responded airily, purposely avoiding the question as he didn't exactly have an answer for it – he doubted that K-unit had actually gone to dinner together… they didn't really _do_ that. "And I'm a houseguest. What do you need to ask him about? Maybe I could help."

She huffed and dropped to the couch, crossing her long legs and reaching out to take the clicker into her hands. Flipping through the channels, she eventually stopped on the cooking channel. It was clear she wasn't about to answer his question.

"You know I used to be a chef," she told him tragically, eyeing the man that was currently decorating an amazingly elaborate cake with mild distaste, "back when I was still living in Australia."

Alex's brain train suddenly came to a screeching halt. A chef in Australia? Weird, hot girl, looking for Wolf? Suddenly Alex knew _exactly_ who he was talking to.

"Is that right?" he played along, cautiously sitting down beside her on the plush leather and offering the glass of water. She took it naturally, leaving lipgloss on the rim of the glass before wiping it off on her sleeve.

"Do you always do that?" he asked about the odd habit, pointing to where she'd just smeared the pink onto the expensive black fabric.

"Do what?" she asked brightly, "Anyway, are you sure you haven't any idea when Luke will be back? We need to talk. He changed his cell number…"

Alex was currently occupied with the difficult task of keeping his eyes firmly placed on hers rather than letting them wander. Honestly, she looked like something out of Playboy.

"I have no clue," he admitted, taking a sip of his drink. "I could give him your number…?"

"He has it," she dismissed briskly. "Guess I'll have to wait it out then. You wanna refill this for me, kid?"

It wasn't even half-empty yet, but Alex did what he was told anyway, glancing back only once with an unreadable expression. He could see what Fox had been talking about – totally gorgeous, but somehow off. And he'd only known her for about a five minutes. She hadn't bothered to ask if she could stay – or even what his name was after the rudely-worded question at the door, for that matter. She just announced she was going to do something and then did it.

Returning to the couch, he found that she'd moved from her earlier position and taken up the blanket on the couch, pulling it over her body snugly and placing her feet up on the table. Alex handed the glass over to her before sitting down once again, watching as the baker added the finishing touches to the cake shaped like a BMW.

She gestured to the cake. "I had a BMW once, but I crashed it."

"That's nice," Alex responded, concentrating on the TV. In the span of an hour, Alex learned much more about Mrs. Novara, including that she hadn't learned how to ride a bicycle until age twenty-two – approximately two years ago, as she'd specifically added ("If you can't do the math, I ain't gonna spell things out for you, kid.") She taught taijutsu in Haiti for a few months to make ends meet, and that she'd grown up with a pet Tarantula named Hermione. According to her, it had turned out to be a male, but she didn't want to have it relearn a new name so they'd stuck with the original name. Age twelve, Hermione's death hit her very hard.

"Mrs. Novara," Alex finally said, interrupting the woman as she explained to him the do's and don't's of cross-country skiing. "I think it's time you went home. Luke is probably going to stay overnight at a friend's or something."

She scrutinized him. "How old are you, anyway, kid? Should he really be leaving you here alone? Why are you staying here?"

"I don't see how any of that pertains to what I just said," he said in exasperation. "_Mrs. Novara! _Listen to me. I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Ah!" He stopped her when she raised her hand to speak again. "No, you may not stay the night._ Please leave_, you can come again tomorrow."

She stood up abruptly, glaring at him. "Fine. If that's how you feel, I'll take my things and leave. You're one rude kid!"

He joined her standing, responding tiredly, "Yes, I get that a lot. Now, thank you for gracing me with your presence, Mrs. Novara, and feel free to drop by anytime."

Taking in his appearance, she gave a peculiar smile. "Now that's what I wanted to hear," she said. "Why doesn't Luke ever bid me farewell with that kind of attitude?"

"Gee, I really couldn't guess," he mumbled, walking over to the door and opening it for her. "Once again, thanks for stopping by. I'll tell Wolf you were here."

"Who?"

Alex hastily corrected the mistake. "Luke."

"_Right. _What's your name, anyway, kid?"

He grinned. "You can call me Mr. Rider."

0o0o0o

* * *

K-unit had arrived in front of Eagle's door after the short drive, and said soldier was now occupied with shoving the short key into the lock, muttering about paranoid girlfriends always locking the door.

"Sadie?" he called into the house when he eventually got the door open. K-unit was glancing around to see if anything have changed since the three of them had last been there. It wasn't a huge apartment: one bedroom, one bathroom, but it did the trick. Besides, it wasn't as though he was housing a seventeen year-old teenager, anyway.

"In here, babe!" she responded, and the group moved into the kitchen where she was preparing a chicken Caesar salad for lunch. Glancing back and spotting the three men behind her boyfriend, she smiled brightly, offering the bowl to them.

"Should I make more?" she asked, but Eagle shook his head, walking up and giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Its fine, we won't be long," he told her. "Actually, we were wondering about the new phone book – you picked one up the other day?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! You know who just moved back to Cornwall? Jillian! Jillian Shepherd! We should give her a call, huh? I hear she and Mikey recently broke up. Poor girl… we ought to invite her over for dinner one of these days – I know she loves roast, but I never had much luck with those…"

"Yeah, we'll phone them later. Anyway, the book?"

She had the decency to look a little embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. You shouldn't let me ramble like that, Ollie."

Snake coughed, trying to cover a laugh at the nickname and failing without remorse. Eagle shot him a dirty look. He stood a little straighter, holding nothing against Sadie nor bothering to correct her.

"It's fine, beautiful. Do you have it lying around anywhere?"

"It's over here," she offered, moving over to the table and shoving as many of the papers as she could to the end of the table. Sadie was often more composed and calm about things than her counterpart, but if Eagle was anything, he was organized. Sadie was the complete opposite, preferring to have things messily in order, and if Eagle ever attempted to clean anything up, she'd wail about not being able to find anything. At one point he'd received a lecture about how she was positive she'd left that contract under the fridge along with her apple, which she'd intended to have for lunch, and that his "cleaning" had messed up her plans for lunch since she'd been searching for both. In the end, it turned out that the apple had been placed _in_ the fridge (after being thoroughly washed) and the contract was held on the face with a magnet.

It wasn't that she was dirty – she was usually the one to push Eagle out of the bed every morning, badgering him about having time for a shower even though it was only seven A.M. – just that she preferred things organized in a more… dynamic way.

"This place look as though it's been ransacked by goats," Snake commented off-handedly. Sadie growled.

"Don't judge us," she said. Eagle turned on her with wide eyes.

"_Us?_ _I'm_ the one always trying to get this place looking tidy! Do you know how much it tortures me to enter this room and not be allowed to clean up that pile of papers on the floor?"

"I know," she rose on her tip-toes to give him another short-lived kiss. "You just love me _that_ much."

"I should have married Cub," he muttered, "that guy keeps the place cleaner than my maid Consuela did."

"You never had a maid," Fox deadpanned. "That was a Family Guy episode."

"Whatever, Fox, nobody asked about your opinion," he returned evenly. "Anyway, didn't we come here to find out that Sabina girl's house so we could stalk her shamelessly?"

Sadie arched an eyebrow. "That's illegal."

Eagle patted her head impassively. "Your mom's illegal."

She scowled, grabbing the book of the table and passing it to her childish boyfriend if only to get him out of her hair. He pulled the object into his arms and cradled it, cooing down to the yellow pages with baby talk so sickeningly sweet it was nearly vomit-inducing.

"Now," he said normally, addressing the rest of K-unit who was looking more and more reluctant by the minute, "let's begin!"

0o0o0o

* * *

I am aware that this story is borderline crack. _However_, it does have a plot… it is just heavily delayed by the humor. I know some of you were wondering why K-unit seemed to drop the issue of Alex's bullet wound so quickly, but don't stress, they'll get back to it.

If you haven't figured out Ms. Novara is, shame on you. *does the little shame wrist shaving thing* I never understood how that represented shame...

Please review!

**Next chapter: **K-unit talks with Sabina, Wolf and Alex misunderstand each other and oh dear, there's a storm brewing…

**Edited 6/22/12**


	7. Weakness

100th review has been claimed by ZeZe123! Thank you to everyone else who reviewed too, immd :)

There's nothing I hate more than when someone reviews with a really great question, or a false assumption, and I want to reply but they've disabled PM's. So to all you sillies out there, fix thaaaat! Drives me crazy!

The name of this story is a play on "Life's a Bitch", in case some people didn't get it… But I thought it'd probably be a better idea NOT to put a swear word in the actual title 8D So a bullshitted one and guess what? I got away with it :P & sorry for the long time between the update, say goodbye to weeklies as I've got a little less time on my hands now. Two-three weeks now? :D

Remember everyone… I'm not British. I think my grandpa had some English blood, but I'm Canadian, and I've got Italian blood. If you want to correct me I'm fine, but don't bite me, since the most British literature I've read is Alex Rider and Harry Potter… so far I've learned brilliant, bloody, git, arse, and I've basically got the accent down :D

BTW – ha! This chapter has _angst! _For all you people out there labeling LAB as crack.

----------

* * *

There was only one Sabina Pleasure in the phone book and, lo and behold, the number Snake had memorized was the same one listed. Her home address was eight-nine-four-two falcon road, Chelsea, so they sat in the living room regrouping and formulating a plan.

"I feel like an idiot." Wolf stated standing up, "This is stupid. I refuse to play matchmaker for the kid."

"No, don't think of it like that. The sooner Cub has a chick to whip him into shape, the quicker he'll stop acting like such a…"

"Teenager?" Snake finished for Fox.

"You guys can do this yourselves," Wolf announced, moving towards the door, "I'm not Cub's friend, I'm his guardian. I'm not concerned, and if he pulls something like that again, I'll just kick his ass."

"Bull. You're not allowed to kick his ass, remember, Wolf?"

"I'll think of something." Wolf pulled open the door, shutting it behind him without bothering to say goodbye to anyone other than a detached, "see you later, Sadie."

"Bye Luke!" Sadie called from her room, where she'd moved the legal papers she was organizing. Eagle sighed, looking at Snake and Fox sadly.

"I guess we're on our own."

"I don't miss the grump." Snake stated. "He was being a killjoy, anyway."

"You can't call Wolf a grump," Fox gasped, "do you know what he'd do to you?"

"He's not even here. Plus, I'm the oldest so I have the right to call Wolf a grump anytime I want to. Anyway, let's head over to Sabina's place and start our stakeout. I doubt she's the type to stay in all day." Snake shook his head slowly, drawing the other two's attention to him.

"This is a bad idea. It's gonna take forever, and Wolf is right. We're going about this the wrong way."

Eagle scowled. "You know what? Fuck it. I'm calling her."

He picked up his phone and punched in the numbers that he'd heard enough times to memorize, ignoring the protests of his two friends. "Damn it Eagle, what did we say about–"

"Hello?" The voice on the other line halted everyone's speaking, and Eagle quickly started talking, trying to cover up for the suspicious sounding silence that settled the moment she answered. He was winging it at the moment.

"Uh, hello, is this Miss Sabina? Sabina Pleasure?"

"… Who is this?" The voice asked slowly, obviously not stupid. Eagle sighed, pulling the phone from his face and putting it on speaker phone so the others could listen, but motioned for them to let him do the talking.

"My name is Oliver Wishart; I'm a friend of C… Alex's–" Sabina's voice cut him off immediately.

"Why are _you _calling me then? Has something happened to Alex?" Eagle exchanged bemused looks with the rest of his team. It seemed that anytime someone other than Alex contacted his friends, it was assumed that Alex was injured. No wonder he had so many scars – this pattern of events was leading them to believe Alex was hospitalized every other day or something.

"Well, the thing is… long story short, Alex got a message from you like, a week ago, and he's been acting really weird since. Cooking, cleaning, jumping in bed with random girls… it's starting to get on our nerves."

"Alex cooking and cleaning for you has been getting on your nerves?" She asked dubiously, but anyone could hear the subtle sourness at Alex's third offense. Eagle cleared his throat, answering more clearly,

"Well, it's not that – he's staying with our friend, and the guy's getting really annoyed. Alex is drinking, throwing parties, and eating Snake's pizza. He needs someone to… calm him down a bit." Snake glared at his shoes upon the mention of the slice that got away.

Sabina paused before answering this time, considering her answer. "Oh, I see where you're going with this. You think if Alex and I hook up, I'll keep him on a tight leash. Obviously you don't know me very well – why would you go to the trouble of contacting me when Alex obviously has no trouble with _other girls?"_

There was an edge to her voice now, but it was left with an underlying current of hurt. "Wouldn't it be easier to find someone else for Alex to have his happily ever after? He doesn't want to see me; he never returned the call."

Eagle tried to answer carefully; they were treading on dangerous waters considering they had no clue how far Alex's feelings for the girl ran. "We don't think that's the case," Eagle explained, "we think he's just scared."

"Alex? Scared? That's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one." She stated with a rather unladylike snort. "You're work is cut out for you, boys. Might as well give up."

"Not that kind of scared," Eagle corrected himself hastily, fearing that they might lose their chance, "see, we have reason to believe that you and Alex have a history. You… know about him, don't you?"

Sabina's voice was slightly more hushed. "If you're talking about Alex's day job, then yes, I've been informed."

"Well, you're the only girl he ever told. Alex has had a couple relationships since then, but none of them have ever been really serious, and no girl could really get to know Alex like you did since they didn't have the security clearance to do a really thorough job of it."

"By the way you describe Alex, I really doubt I can still say I know him."

Eagle was grasping at straws. "We know you miss him, Miss Pleasure. And we know he misses you, too. We can assure you that we only want the best for Alex, and he's been freaking since he got your message. If Alex didn't still feel anything for you, then he wouldn't have been so desperate to distract himself from the thought of you, right?"

"If Alex wants to see me, he can call me himself. He has my number – you, whoever, do not. Care to tell me where you found it?"

Eagle ignored the question. "That's not true. Alex wants to see you really badly, but he can't call you."

"Why not?" Sabina demanded, frustrated, "Are _they_ interfering or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Eagle expelled the thought easily, and no one needed to ask who she meant by _they_, "what's interfering is more likely his feelings for you. The last time you two were together, it was on Air Force One with a terrorist and an assassin, am I right?"

"How d'you know about that?" Sabina hissed.

Eagle carried on like she hadn't said anything. "I know that if my girlfriend Sadie was in danger, I'd do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Would you be able to consider that maybe the reason Alex never returned your call was that he didn't want to get you involved? He's a certified agent now, you know; not only that, but the reason he's staying with our buddy rather than his housekeeper is that he needs to go into hiding until MI6 takes care of a couple organizations that want nothing more than to plant a bullet in Alex's skull right now. Those kinds of people aren't opposed to blackmail or hostages. Hm, sounds like a positively _brilliant_ time to get back together with your ex, don't you think?"

Eagle was breathless after the long explanation. Fox and Snake were staring at him, mildly shocked by the passion in the speech – it was clear that Eagle felt more than a little protective of the kid. He'd been dealt a damn unfair card in the game of life.

"Sabina, we contacted you to give you an actual chance – Alex is convinced that you don't know what you're getting into, even though you've been through all of it before. If you want to see him, you'll have to accept that Alex's presence comes with serious risks. He doesn't want you to get hurt, and no one can rule out that you won't. Are you ready for that?"

Sabina didn't even have to think about it. "Are you stupid? I'm perfectly fine with it. I already know the risks and all that shit, it's just as you said – I _was_ on Air Force One with a terrorist and an assassin. I handled that okay, didn't I?"

The group was speechless. This girl was something else – no wonder Cub liked her. She didn't sound scared in the slightest. Did Sabina Pleasure have a death wish?

She continued on, voice sharp as ice. "That's so… Alex. 'I won't call her back because, uh, she might get hurt. I guess I'll just ignore it completely and hope it goes away. That'll solve _everything._'"

Despite the fact that they were supposed to be silent, Fox and Snake burst out laughing at her Alex impression. Eagle smiled and spoke up.

"I think I like you, Sabina. Anyway, Alex is an idiot, so we have to do everything for him. We'd like to arrange an accidental meeting between you two. Would you happen to be at New York Pizza tomorrow at, say, three in the afternoon?"

On the other end of the phone, Sabina was grinning. "I might be."

"Great! Then we're set. Pleasure doing business with you, Miss Pleasure."

They both hung up, and Eagle turned around to meet Fox's dry look.

"You didn't do any business with her." He stated blandly.

"Yeah, but I thought it'd sound good. _Pleasure_ doing business with you, Miss _Pleasure? _I thought it was funny," he muttered the last part defensively. Fox rolled his eyes and Snake stood up, moving towards the door.

"That went extremely well for a random act with no prior planning," he commented, shooting a glare at Eagle. Eagle only smiled – it had worked out perfectly, so he wasn't about to look cowed. What would the group without him and his impulsive tendencies?

Sadie emerged from the other room, rubbing her face tiredly. "Are we still on for dinner, Ollie?"

Eagle made his way over to the blonde, wrapping his arms around her waist as she slipped hers around his neck. She giggled softly and he responded huskily,

"Of course. When have I ever skipped out on one of our dates?"

"Never," she replied, leaning forward and kissing him. Fox and Snake made gagging noises, turning away and pretending to throw up. Eagle shot them dirty looks.

"You're just jealous!" He said proudly. Sadie grabbed his chin and turned his face back to her. "Are you ready to go then? We have reservations at the White Rabbit."

"Snazzy. I'll get into something a little less casual and then we can go then, okay?"

He glanced back at Snake and Fox. "Okay guys, the plan's all set for tomorrow and we'll discuss it more in the morning. You can leave now," he dismissed them. Fox saluted and walked out the door, followed by Snake. It wasn't until the two were back in the lobby of the apartment when Fox had an epiphany.

"… hey, if Wolf drove us here, then how are we gonna…"

Snake slapped a hand over his face. "Damn it."

------

Wolf shut the door behind him, wandering into the kitchen from where the sounds of shooting and screaming were emerging. He could tell they weren't real and only rolling off the TV, but the sounds still put him on edge. He arrived in front of Alex looking tense and irritable.

"Hi, Cub. Move over." Alex made some room and Wolf collapsed beside him, grabbing a handful of popcorn out of the bowl Alex was holding and stuffing it into his mouth. Alex glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before dropping the ball.

"Ms. Novara stopped by today," he said nonchalantly. Wolf predictably froze, slowly turning to look at Alex.

"Are you serious? Why?" He asked suspiciously.

Alex grinned. "She was looking for you, you know. Damn, Wolf, she's _really_ hot. Like, _porn star_ hot."

"_What?"_ Wolf growled, turning to look at him half incredulously and half furiously. Alex held his hands up in a motion to surrender before responding,

"What? She is! I could hardly keep my eyes off her–"

Wolf practically roared, standing up immediately. "_What the hell is wrong with you?_ Get the fuck out of my house!"

Alex scrambled back and away from the seemingly random bout of rage. He didn't think Wolf would react like this. Stumbling away from the couch, his back hit the wall behind him and he swallowed hard. Wolf looked freakishly angry.

"You're one fucked up kid," he snarled, "if you're attracted to that kind of thing."

Alex stared at him. "_What?_ Have you _seen_ that woman? You're the fucked up one," he responded, glaring at Wolf. The woman had been curvy, tall, and positively gorgeous. Didn't Wolf go out with her? Were they even talking about the same person?

"You're fucked in the head!" Wolf told him, turned away. "Ew. Disgusting. You're going to therapy."

Alex's temper flared at that. "_You're_ insane. This does not require therapy, most men out there happen to like women like that."

Wolf reeled back. "If you really think that, we'll skip the therapy and throw you into the insane asylum right away. Now get the fuck out of my house! I don't care what MI6 will do, I'm not sleeping in the same house as you."

"I'm not leaving," Alex snapped, "there's nothing wrong with me, women like that are in magazines and movies for a reason! Are you fucking gay, Wolf? You used to date the woman!"

Wolf froze, eyes locking on Alex's rigid figure. "What?"

"Well, she's your ex-girlfriend, isn't she?" He was panting from the screaming match, and completely blown away by Wolf's reaction. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding here.

"What was this… Ms. Novara's first name?"

Alex was glaring now. "Unless there's another insane, hot chick who stalks you, I'm pretty sure it was Tammy."

Wolf fell back into the couch, looking astonished. When Alex had said… oh, man, he should've known she'd say something like that. That damn woman was the one that belonged in the loony bin, not Alex. He rubbed his face tiredly, saying very slowly.

"Oh my God. Novara is _not_ her last name."

Alex tipped his head to the side, confused. "It's not? Then whose last name is it?"

Wolf leaned forward, fixing Alex with a glare that wasn't really directed at him, but at the woman that caused all this trouble. Tammy needed serious help.

"It's mine, Cub. My name is Luke Novara."

He stared at him blankly for a second before comprehension dawned on him slowly. Shock, horror, disgust and finally uncontrollable amusement crossed his face in the span of three seconds. Wolf still looked like he would've enjoyed the slow death of the redhead, woman or not.

"… holy shit, so when I said Ms. Novara–"

"Why yes, yes I did think you were talking about _my sixty-one-year old mother."_

Alex burst out laughing, clutching his sides as he tried to choke out a response amid the fit. He gave up as he kept breaking out into laughter half way through the sentences, and Wolf would've walked away if not for the fact that he wanted to know what Tammy had done while she was here.

"Oh my fucking God – I can't believe – and you thought – _hahahaha!!_"

"Shut up, Cub, and tell me what she said to you!" Wolf growled, crossing his arms over his chest – a habit he'd become known for in K-unit. Alex took a while longer to laugh his ass off, but eventually it came to a stop as he was left hiccupping and grinning widely in Wolf's direction.

"That was hilarious." He stated.

"No it was _not."_ Wolf replied, "Now, get on with it. What happened?"

Alex put a finger to his chin, thinking it over in his head. "Hmm, well, she came to the door and she was kind of rude but I let her in. She mentioned being a chef in Australia–"

"–never happened–" Wolf put in.

"–and then we were watching the cooking channel and she gave me her life story. So I said, 'go home.' And she said, "fine but I'm coming back tomorrow'. Basically, she's gonna be back tomorrow."

Wolf visibly paled. Alex never thought he'd see the day that Wolf looked scared of anything, but the fact that it was his ex-girlfriend making him look that that almost threw him into hysterics all over again. Noticing his expression, Wolf made a face and stood up abruptly, walking over to the kitchen and pulling open the fridge. Alex had to smile when he realized that glaring into the fridge and muttering about stupid teenagers was probably the man's way of pouting. He laughed at the mental image, drawing Wolf's attention to him again.

"You're so annoying," he informed him. Alex nodded sagely.

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"It was from you."

------

When Snake and Fox returned to the apartment, Alex was watching _Die Hard _and Wolf had fallen asleep beside him, his face grim even when he was sleeping. Alex gave him a dry look.

"And to think you're probably doing something involving terrorists and bombs in your dreams right now, when really you're curled up next to me." He said, wondering how he might be able to get a picture of him without standing up and jarring him awake.

"Honestly, who falls asleep during _Die Hard?"_

There was a knock on the door, but whoever it was didn't wait for an answer before barging in, grinning at Alex and Wolf when they noticed him. It was Fox and Snake, but Eagle wasn't with them. Somehow, it seemed strange to think that Eagle might be hanging out with anyone other than K-unit, even if he did have a girlfriend.

Their footsteps had forced Wolf to stir, but not before Fox whipped out his camera phone and snapped a picture of the sleeping man. Wolf's eyes slowly opened to look around, until he caught how heavily he was leaning on Alex and the blonde's mocking look. He jumped away as if Alex had been a cactus rather than a substitute pillow.

"Huh?" He said intelligently, "why am I…?"

"Cub, I think it's time for your bedtime. The men have things they need to discuss." He told him. Alex looked scandalized at being sent away like some kind of child.

"Hell no. This is my house, and I'll go to bed when I want."

"Actually, it's _my_ house, and I say you get the fuck out of the living room before I forcibly throw you out." There was a storm outside, and the end of Wolf's sentence was cut off by a low rumble of thunder outside.

"You're all talk," Alex muttered, getting up and moving away from the couch despite his dislike for K-unit's blasé attitude. For whatever reason, the blonde had a look of unease on his face, but Fox was the only one who caught it. He'd always been the observant one, after all. They heard him quickly disappear up the stairs before beginning to whisper in quiet voices.

"Alright, we've got that Sabina girl set up for…" He looked to Snake, who finished the sentence for him.

"Tomorrow at three." Snake was not only the team's medic, but he also had an extremely good memory. Photographic, he also had the ability to remember a name or number the first time he heard it. It had been one of the reasons he'd managed to get into the SAS, as it was a rare ability.

Outside, it had begun to rain. Fox looked vaguely worried at the weather – if it rained tomorrow at New York Pizza, then the "date" might not go as well. Not only that, but the windows were dark with only the sheen of the streetlights allowing anything in the yard to be identified.

Just then, the yard lit up in a flash of lightning. Wolf, Fox and Snake all mistook it for a stun grenade, and Wolf grabbed the gun he kept in the coffee table drawer, ready to defend himself. Fox and pulled a gun out of the holster he kept at his side, covered by the large hoodie he was wearing. Snake took a defensive stance.

The next second, the group realized what had happened and laughed nervously.

"Wow, we're really paranoid."

Wolf slowly put the gun away in the drawer. "Storms make for great covers during attacks. Besides, it's only paranoia if there aren't actually mad terrorists after your teenage charge."

Snake nodded, and Fox looked thoughtful. He pointed to the doorway that led into the hallway to which the stairs were built off of. "If Cub's up there alone and wanted by criminal organizations, maybe it'd be a good idea to stay up there with him? Wolf's right, we could be attacked tonight."

"Well, I do have alarms," Wolf argued, despite his earlier statement. Snake shrugged.

"Has alarms ever stopped _us?"_ Wolf sighed, turning towards the archway and calling loudly, hands cupping his mouth to amplify his rough voice.

"Oi, Cub! Can you come here for a second?" Snake shot him a curious look. Wolf glanced at him, reading the expression. "I want to know if he can give any details on the group that might be interested in capturing him," he explained quietly.

They waited a moment, but worry set in. Alex should've answered by now – he couldn't really have been kidnapped already, right?

"Cub?" Fox called, moving towards the stairs. The others followed him, and they stopped outside Cub's door, which was locked. Why would he…

"Hey, open up," Snake said, knocking his fist on the door. Another flash of lightning erupted outside, filtering in through the windows of the hallway. The thunder was rumbling dangerously outside.

"If you don't open this door, we'll break it down," Wolf stated, pounding on it again. There was a pause, and then a shaky voice answered them hesitantly.

"I'm fine. Don't come in."

K-unit exchanged glances. What was wrong? Snake began to mouth his opinion. _He could be held at gunpoint. _Wolf turned back to the door before taking a step back, motioning for the rest of the group to do the same. One the count of three, they all sent a powerful kick to the door, forcing it open but remarkably leaving the door still functional – though it was unlikely the lock would still work. What they found beyond it however surprised them, to say the least.

The room was dark, lit up only by another string of lightning outside, followed by more thunder. Alex wasn't anywhere to be seen, but the bedspread on his bed was all messed up, and it took them a moment to register the abnormally large lump under all the sheets.

"… Cub?" Fox's voice came out tentative. If they weren't mistaken, then the outspoken and reckless teenager they were looking for was probably the very same quivering mass of blankets on the mattress. Alex's voice was hushed when he answered, trying to sound even despite the evident tremors.

"I'm fine."

Wolf stayed by the door as Snake and fox closed in on him, watching as the ball of covers shrank away from them. Snake had a look of incredulity on his face, but it was mingled with concern. It was Fox who reached out first.

"What are you doing under there?" He asked softly. He had his suspicions, but they couldn't possibly be correct…

"Noth–"

His voice was cut off by another shot of thunder. He didn't try to finish the sentence, even after the noise died down. Snake looked at Fox, gesturing towards Alex. His hand curled around the edge of the sheet, but Alex held it firmly in place. What the hell was wrong with him?

"… Cub… you're not afraid of thunder, are you?"

The reply came immediately. "I'm not afr–"

The storm took this moment to roar once again, and Alex jerked back. The pair turned to see how Wolf was taking the situation, but he revealed nothing, emotionless eyes watching the exchange coolly. Obviously no one expected to receive emotional support from the bastard, but he could at least help them coax Alex out of his bed.

"Hey, come on out of there, there's nothing to be scared of," Wolf's declaration interrupted their thoughts. Alex answered, obviously trying to sound as obnoxious as his usual self, but somehow the little voice he spoke in just wasn't able to capture the sarcasm he was renowned for.

"I'm not scared."

"Alex…" Fox started slowly, using his name for the first time since Australia, "… you've got to get out of the bed sooner or later. Surely you wouldn't let something like a midnight storm get the best of you?"

The sheets rolled as Alex poked his head out from beneath them, revealing only enough for them to see the top of his head to his eyes.

"I'm fine," he protested in a vicious growl, "get out of my room."

Wolf started forward, grasping the blanket and ripping it off the bed. Unfortunately, Alex had three more curled around him, so it didn't do much good aside from earning him a cold glare from the teenager. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to murder his temporary guardian.

"Actually," Wolf started, "it's _my_ room. Get out of bed, and stop being such a child."

"Shut the fuck up!" Alex roared, kicking out was his foot and managing to get the man right in the stomach, sending him toppling backwards. He'd taken him by surprise, but when Wolf stood up again, he looked absolutely furious.

"Oh, you're gonna get it now–" The thunder and the lightning broke in again, bleaching the room and giving Wolf a clear view of Alex's face. He stopped from the look of sheer terror that crossed through his eyes before Alex had buried his head underneath the sheets once again.

Wolf stood there staring down at him. Much as he told the others, he didn't hate Alex – he sort of even liked the kid, although he'd never dare say it out loud. So seeing the normally confident, infuriating spy curled up like a kicked puppy made him stop in his tracks. All urge to smack the kid disappeared the moment he'd seen that look on his face.

"… Hey, seriously, stop it. There's really nothing to get all tangled up about, this place is wired. Nothing can touch you in here."

"Get out of here," Alex mumbled, shutting his eyes hard as another wave of thunder shook the house. "Leave."

Wolf had started forward again, but Fox put a hand on his arm again, forcing him back. Wolf gave his teammate an affronted look.

_Leave him alone,_ Fox mouthed. Snake nodded beside him, and after another second of study, Wolf backed away a bit, followed by the other two. They stopped in the doorway, glancing back at the bed where Alex was still tensed under the covers. They shut the door behind them and Fox whispered to Wolf,

"He's terrified!" Wolf looked away.

"I know. That damn look he gave me said that a thousand times harsher than you ever could, Fox."

"Who would have thought the brilliant Alex Rider's weakness would be thunder?" Snake mused from beside them. Wolf shook his head.

"It's pathetic is what it is." He said with a scowl. Fox took on a wide grin, nudging Wolf's arm with his elbow and mumbled cheekily,

"It's not more pitiful than your fear of heights." Wolf stepped back, glowering fiercely at the man. Pointing at Alex's door, he whispered furiously,

"I'm not scared of heights; I just don't like the prospect of leaping from a moving plane with nothing besides a parachute to keep me from plummeting to my death! At least the thing that I'm sca – nervous around has actual _risks. _What could thunder ever do to him? It's just a noise!"

"Maybe he had a bad experience with it?" Snake offered quietly. Wolf trailed his eyes along the wall.

"Whatever. I don't care what the kid does during storms as long as he doesn't come and curl up in my bed like a toddler. I'm done looking after the kid – he kicked me in the fucking stomach!"

Fox had an angry glint in his eyes now, though. "You may not like him, but everyone else in the unit does! We take care of our own," he snapped back.

Wolf stared at him like he'd never seen him before in his life. "Are you kidding? The _kid_ is _not_ a part of this unit! The only obligation I have is to give him a bed to grovel in, not to sing him lullabies on rainy days!"

"We're not asking you to_ sing _to him for God's sake, but there's no need to–"

Alex's door opened, and standing in the doorway they could already see that the teen was a mess. His sandy hair was disheveled and tousled while his normally teasing brown eyes were haunted, dark with a torrent of emotions. He even somehow managed to look smaller, tan skin taking on a sick pallor and forcing the dark circles under his eyes to stand out even further. How had he managed to change so much when he'd only been downstairs about fifteen minutes ago?

"I'd appreciate it if you all stopped talking about me behind my back – or my door," he hissed. "I'll spell things out for you, since you're all too bloody stupid to understand it. I just _don't_ like thunder, it's none of your business, and if you'd refrain from gossiping about my life for _one damn second_ I _might_ have a chance of falling asleep tonight. I'm not afraid, _I just don't like thunder."_

The explanation was ground out harshly, and all three people looked stunned at his words. Alex fixed them all with an impressive glare.

"Now shut the _fuck _up and _go to bed."_

He turned and pushed the door shut behind him, collapsing on the bed just as another round of thunder began outside his window. Truth be told, thunder threw all his senses into haywire, and if he did manage to get to sleep his dreams were plagued by nightmares. He was able to see what would have happened to him if he hadn't managed to escape from Point Blanc before the live dissection began, how things would have gone down at Skeleton Key had he never been rescued from the conveyor belt, and each possible scenario Damian Cray as well as all the other villains he'd encountered in life would've put him through had he not managed to escape at the right moment. Each mission brought with it an alarming amount of death threats, and though they were never carried out, nothing stopped his overactive imagination from playing the outcomes over and over in his head on nights that it stormed like this. Alex never usually had nightmares – it was just the thunder.

It was worse when it happened during the daytime, because anyone would notice the change in Alex. Flashbacks hit him like a bag of bricks accompanied by a migraine, and each of his instincts went off at the drop of a hat. He didn't know why, but thunder sent his entire mind spiraling to the brink of insanity.

Of course, the next day he was perfectly fine.

It still made him angry the way K-unit had to meddle like that – acts of concern, calling him childish, defending him from Wolf. They were three very different things, but each of them was needless. He was embarrassed by the weakness, and he always lived in fear of him being caught in an electrical storm during a mission. It would almost certainly end in death for him – and probably others at the rate his missions turned out to affect countries, and a lot of the time the whole world.

Fox and Snake had used all their money on the taxi they'd taken from Eagle's and the tube was no longer an option this late into the night or during the rainstorm. Snake took the guest bedroom after a quick game of rock, paper, scissors – "You picked scissors and I picked rock! That means I beat you!" – "I did _not_ pick scissors, I picked crocodile. Crocodile eats rock." – while Fox took the couch.

Twenty minutes later and three out of four of the house's occupants were asleep.

* * *

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Review!


	8. The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Lies

Thanks for the reviews! Not quite as many as usual, but I really liked reading them nonetheless. The last chapter ended on somewhat of a cliffie, so enjoy :)

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* * *

The next morning, Wolf's dark eyes began to open, and he blinked into the light of the room, realizing it was sunny outside. He sat up, rubbing his face tiredly and turning on the light by his bed to deactivate the alarms before standing up and trudging slowly to the bathroom. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, didn't touch his hair, and then walked downstairs, noticing absently that Alex was gone. Must be a school day or something –

Man, he was really out of touch if he couldn't even remember the day of the week. Grimacing, he reached into the fridge, finding it empty aside from some random food products that required cooking skills to eat. Damn it – normally Alex got up and made breakfast. And lunch – and dinner, too. He was screwed.

Groaning, he went back to the fridge, pulling open the freezer side of the fridge instead. There were three ice cube trays, filled up because he often needed ice to help with bruising, a gun, and half a loaf of bread he'd bought so long ago he couldn't even remember picking it up.

He pulled it out, taking out two pieces – consequently, the front and end pieces (who liked those anyway?) – before throwing them into the toaster and then moving to the couch, collapsing on it. He landed on something hard and uncomfortable, and his half-closed eyes flew open to find a disgruntled Fox glaring at home.

"Get off me, Wolf," he growled, pushing himself up and rubbing his head. "Is there food?"

"None."

"I thought Cub usually made breakfast?"

Wolf grimaced. "Not today."

Yesterday's events suddenly caught up to him, and Fox seemed to deflate a little. "He's probably still sore about last night. It's gonna be tough to convince him to go anywhere with us today."

Wolf looked mildly surprised, eyes flickering over to Fox's half-prone form. "Why would we need to do that?"

"Sabina, remember? We're setting them up today. And then Alex can stop being such a party animal, because he'll have a girlfriend to keep him grounded!" Fox looked smug.

"Hey, Fox, how much do you even know about this Sabina chick? She could be wilder than him for all we know. We might just be setting ourselves up for disaster." Fox looked scared for a minute, but not very long. They glanced to the clock, finding it was noon.

"Jeez, we need to stop sleeping away half the day," Fox said. He grinned, realizing something.

"That rhymed!"

Wolf gave him a dead look. "You're doing it again – acting like Eagle."

Fox took this as a grave insult, immediately looking affronted. "Don't go there."

Their exchange was interrupted when Snake appeared in the doorway, clutching his pillow. He still looked like he was half asleep, moving to the couch and immediately falling down beside the other two men.

"Nnggn…" He yawned, shutting his eyes and beginning to nod off again. Wolf kicked him awake, ignoring the annoyed sound he made before sitting up tiredly. "Is there food?"

"I just asked that question," Fox informed him, shaking his head to answer the question. "Cub's still pissed at us, I figure, and didn't bother to make more than enough for one."

Snake looked more subdued. "I still can't believe he's scared of thunder. I mean it's just so unlikely!"

Wolf didn't seem bothered by it, opting to simply settle for insulting the boy. "He's immature. I'm sure there was a teddy bear crammed under all those blankets, too; we just couldn't see it."

Fox sighed and Snake rolled over to get more comfortable. Wolf ended up burning the sad excuse for toast – "How do you burn toast? Honestly!" – "Shut up, Snake! That shit's harder to make than it looks!" – and the three ended up sitting on the couch watching sports, trying to ignore their stomachs.

"We could go out for breakfast," Fox suggested.

"Too lazy," Snake and Wolf responded at the same time, not bothering to look away from the TV. Fox frowned, turning back to the screen, and it wasn't until a quarter to two before the door opened and Alex reentered the house. He didn't even go into the other room, instead climbing the stairs to his bedroom, but was stopped when the three men appeared in the hallway.

"Hey! What are you doing here already? I thought your school ended at two-thirty?"

Alex glanced down at them, and they noticed how drawn he still looked. They doubted he'd gotten much sleep last night, if any at all.

"I had spare," he explained simply before continuing up the stairs, seemingly absorbed in something else. Wolf grunted, but Fox and Snake still looked unsatisfied.

"Are you going to leave without talking about last night?" When he stopped and looked down on them a second time, his eyes were cold.

"What happened last night?" He feigned easily, "I don't recall anything out of the ordinary. K-unit meddling like middle school girls – sounds about right?"

Only Wolf looked offended – the other two had already spotted the defensiveness in his eyes enough to know he was only speaking in spite to keep them away from the real thing that was bothering him. Snake was the next person to talk.

"Cub, just come down here, we need to work this out. You hide a lot of things from us; can't you just give us this?"

They were surprised by the look of distrust in his eyes – he looked angry.

"Oh?" Alex snapped, moving down the stairs so he could talk to them face-to-face, "we've known each other for what, a week? Week and a half? I don't owe you anything. I don't even know half your names."

Ben wanted to remind him of the Snakehead mission, but Wolf cut in with his own angry voice.

"You're staying in my house – if we want answers, then yeah, you do owe us that much!"

"How can you say that?" Alex demanded, furious, "do you have any idea how much my life is based on secrecy? How many people are only alive today _because_ of that secrecy? I hide things for a _reason, _you know!"

Wolf looked disdainful. As per usual, he crossed his arms and leaned back on the balls of his feet, taking in Alex's angry form coolly. "Are you trying to tell me people could die if you just admitted you're scared of thunder?"

"I know why you want to know," Alex spat bitterly, "All the wrong reasons, naturally. You're just looking to find a crack in my armor, right? 'Oh, look, Alex actually seems to be having an okay time. Let's make it harder for him, just for kicks. Humiliate him, because we're _bored._ In fact, let's make it a holiday! We can have a parade! Fuck with Alex Rider's life parade! A special prize for the first person to get his _entire cover blown __**again**__!'"_

The three stopped. He wasn't even making sense anymore. It seemed the lack of sleep had really gotten to him, and finally, Alex was left glaring at them.

"You don't know shit about me, and that's probably the only reason you're not dead right now. Be grateful."

And then with all the predictability of a moody teenager, Alex stormed out of the house, grabbing the door and wrenching it open. A couple seconds later and they heard his car pull out of the drive way and begin streaking down the street.

There was a beat of silence, broken by Snake's quiet mutter of, "that went well."

Fox grimaced. "We should reschedule Sabina for another day. Alex probably didn't sleep at all yesterday – maybe that's why he's throwing tantrums."

"Tch," Wolf mumbled, turning away. "I don't care. Let him act like a four-year-old. I'll be in the living room."

-----

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sabina, this is Ben Daniels. I was with Ea – Oliver yesterday when you spoke to him, along with my other friend. We're calling to reschedule."

Sabina sounded a little disheartened, but less so than she did suspicious. Was that girl always on edge or was she just as sharp as a throwing knife? "I didn't think he was alone. Why?"

Fox sighed, rubbing the bridge of his noise as he fought a headache. It was too early for this. "We sort of got in a fight with him. Anyway, he's left the house and we have no idea when he'll be back."

"Really? What did you fight about?" Fox opened his mouth to brush off the question, but Snake's meaningful look made him think the girl might have something to say about it.

"Ah, well, you see… there was a thunder storm last night–"

"_Oh." _Sabina said, voice full of understanding. "Sorry, continue."

"No, wait," Fox hurriedly took the chance, "we don't know what to make of it. We found him all holed up in his room and he was yelling at us yesterday night and today because we asked why he's scared of thunder."

Sabina sighed on the other line. "He's not _scared,_" she argued for her friend, remembering the night she'd found Alex curled up on the couch at four in the morning after she'd gone to get a glass of water. He'd been shaking, and slowly she managed to get him to explain why thunder seemed to have this effect on him.

"For some reason or another, whenever there's thunder, all of Alex's senses go wild. He told me all his thoughts scatter, and he's shot with adrenaline. Apparently it's utterly exhausting, but he can't go to sleep because he just wakes up again." Sabina grimaced. "He didn't elaborate, but he probably gets nightmares with all the shit he's been through."

"Does that normally happen? The nightmares, I mean?" Snake asked. If Alex was being plagued at night, it was possible he could need therapy. After all, it wasn't exactly unlikely that the seventeen year old had developed something along the lines of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"I don't think so," she answered slowly, "but you'd have to ask him. I haven't seen him in years, remember?"

"Right," Fox agreed. "Alright, thanks for the intel, Sabina." Sabina merely nodded from his placed on the other line, bidding them farewell before hanging up. Fox turned to Snake.

"Let's call Eagle. Cub and we are going to have a little chat tonight."

-----

Alex didn't get home until eleven, and even then when he walked in, he was looking better. The color had returned to his face, and he didn't look so much like he was trying desperately to keep in control of his emotions. This time, when Alex saw K-unit sitting at the table and staring intently at him, he didn't try to avoid a confrontation, marching up to them with a barely detectable glint of remorse in his eyes.

He sat down in one of the chairs, glancing around the group before taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry I said those things to you. I wasn't in my right mind, and I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."

Fox and Snake nodded. Wolf and Eagle remained stoic, Wolf out of stubbornness and Eagle because, well, he hadn't been present for any of this and frankly didn't know what to do about it. Slowly, Fox began to speak.

"So, do you think you'd consider telling us about why thunder gets you so riled up?" They couldn't very well admit to Alex that they knew because they'd asked Sabina; that would ruin the entire plan. However, if the blonde was willing to actually talk about it, then that was a huge show of trust on his part. Alex looked down at his feet, talking more quietly when he answered.

"It's a… weird thing that I have. It just fucks with my mind, thunder. Gives me a headache. I can't sleep," he admitted tensely. K-unit noted that Alex looked as though he'd rather be in a pit of snakes than admitting the weakness to them. Snake, however, still looked troubled.

He stood up, yawning. "Anyway, I took a nap at Tom's so I'm feeling a little better, but I was thinking I'd go to bed early today…"

"Wait, Cub," Snake interrupted him, "this only happens on stormy nights? How long has this been going on?"

Alex feigned perplexity. To be honest, it'd all begun after Cornwall, but he wasn't going to give that much away. Years of secrecy had trained him to keep as many of the little lies to himself as he could. "Since as long as I can remember. Why?"

Snake visibly relaxed, but it seemed he still wasn't finished. "That rules out psychological trauma then. Thank God," he murmured quietly. No one noticed Alex's slight frown. Though just as he began to turn away again, he was stopped by Snake's voice for a second time.

"One more thing. Cub, care to explain why you have a bullet wound right over your heart?"

He froze. Damn, and he'd thought K-unit had forgotten that already. Looking over at them, he noticed the flinch Fox gave, Eagle's widening of his eyes, and Wolf's subtle change from annoyance to curiosity. It seemed that although they'd allowed the scar to slip their minds, they all remembered the accidental sighting from the day after the party he'd thrown.

Reluctantly sitting down, he resisted the urge to self consciously touch the scar. For some reason, women found it extremely arousing that he had taken a bullet – maybe it was because his story was that he'd gotten it protecting a small child during a gang shoot out?

But he knew the lie wouldn't work on K-unit. Forced to tell the truth, he began,

"I got shot. What's there to tell?"

"How, maybe?" Eagle suggested, fingers digging into the wood of Wolf's table. Wolf didn't even notice – he'd leaned in too. It wasn't just the fact that Cub was far too young to have taken a bullet – even at age seventeen – but by the rate Alex's life seemed to run at, it probably wasn't just something as simple as getting caught by a henchmen randomly firing. No matter how they looked at it or even expected it, it was wrong for Alex to have a scar like that – especially over his heart.

"With a gun." He replied flatly, returning their gazes without any show of emotion on his part. Eagle slapped a hand over his face and Fox shook his head.

"Look, whether you stall or not, we're gonna get there somehow. Might as well just get to the real explanation."

Alex looked away, shuffling his feet. He said something quietly under his breath, but K-unit missed it. Snake was the one to speak for them.

"Sorry?"

"Scorpia never forgives. Scorpia never forgets."

Only Ben, who spent some time as a spy working under MI6, knew who Scorpia was. He'd heard their last plan had gone down exponentially, and that most of their major players had been either captured or killed. Alex couldn't seriously have played a part in that, could he? I mean the whole Snakehead fiasco had gotten entirely out of hand, but could it really be possible that Alex had dealt with that kind of situation before? He'd always assumed that playing parts as the son or nephew of a real MI6 operative was all Alex did. Wolf never had told them it was Cub he'd seen in Point Blanc – likewise, he felt the same way. They knew even less about Alex than they thought.

Noticing Fox's horrified expression, the three other people began poking around for information.

"What's with that look? Who's Scorpia?"

Alex didn't meet their eyes, and in the end it was Fox who kept the ball rolling.

"No way… are you saying… Invisible Sword…?"

Alex nodded gravely, finally meeting Fox's gaze. He trusted him the most out of the group as Fox had had his back when they worked together in Australia – much more so than Ash ever did. He began to explain a much watered-down version of events. It wasn't that he was worried about reopening old wounds – even if his time in Venice had brought him emotionally to his knees – he just wasn't sure how much information he should be giving out about the whole thing.

"I… well, for a bunch of reasons I don't care to get into, I sort of… joined Scorpia. Some more stuff happened, and in the end I betrayed them and destroyed their plan to kill a bunch of people via vaccines." He shrugged. "They got their revenge, I suppose."

"Why aren't you dead?" Eagle blurted out. He was shot looks for his lack of tact, but it was soon forgotten as Alex began to speak again.

"I was stepping off a curb when it happened, so the aim somehow ended up off. Close call though, it punctured my lung – internal bleeding, or something? I hadn't even been released from the hospital before I ended up destroying Ark Angel," he revealed carelessly, "so I didn't get much time for all the details."

Snake, the medic of the team, looked floored by the miracle of Alex's life. "Wasn't Ark Angel that space hotel thing that ended up falling through?"

"Uh huh. Planted a bomb on it and, well… Boom crash."

Fox and Eagle held twin looks of awe. "You've been to _space?"_

"How do you think I ended up in Australia?"

At Fox's bewildered look, Alex actually laughed. He seemed to be feeling a lot better compared to the morning. However lighthearted he felt, though, Alex was sure he wasn't going to be let out of sight for quite some time now.

"Did you say you were on mission duty right after getting shot?" Snake pried, "Wait, how long? Wolf got a two month leave after he was shot in the Alps, but he was wearing special armor so he only sustained a bullet to the shoulder."

Alex knew it wasn't exactly a good time to be starting a new mission, but it really hadn't been his fault that the man in charge of Ark Angel was a madman who had a son who looked like Alex who was staying in the hospital on the same floor right beside each other. It also wasn't his fault that the madman's son had kidnappers hired by his own father who were willing to chop off a few fingers just to look more legit.

"Look, things got complicated. They always, always do, and if I can learn to accept that then I hope you can too."

Fox started to snicker, and Wolf held a look of true exasperation before the man who'd at least attempted to control himself for a moment exploded,

"That rhymed too! What's with all the rhyming? Hahaha!"

The murderous looks all four other people were sending him ended up being dispelled by the bright sound of the doorknob. Snake rolled his eyes just as Wolf muttered cynically,

"Saved by the bell."

-----

When the five had shuffled over the door, Wolf reflexively leaned forward to look through the peephole. Unfortunately, it'd been blacked out – he paled instantly and leaped away as if the door was on fire. Immediately, the dark haired man was searching for escape routes out than the obvious one.

"Wolf! What do you see?" Eagle demanded, trying to look through but finding it blocked. Alex did the same, only to jump away an in identical fashion, looking frightened. He turned to Wolf with an entirely serious look on his face, explaining in a frantic whisper,

"Run upstairs and take a gun. I want you to leave out the bathroom window and travel uptown. Go to the tube station – there you should find a guy named Ricky. He'll take you to safety, just tell him Alex Rider sent you… he'll know what it means."

K-unit was staring at him with horrified expressions, but before anyone could (further) question Alex's sanity, a loud thudding on the door tore them all back to reality… harshly.

"I know you're in there, Luke!" A voice like nails on a chalkboard roared, and the thundering continued, "I can hear you guys! Who the hell is_ Ricky?"_

Alex swallowed, motioning for the rest of the group to get behind him. Wolf put a hand on his shoulder and Alex looked up, reading the look of silent farewell. Then they all bolted out the back door, leaving the blonde to stumble back from the force of the stampede. Alex began coughing loudly to cover the sound of their escape before opening the door an inch, the chain lock still in place.

And it was a good thing, too, because a second later the woman's high heel boot came crashing down on the door, forcing it as far open as it could go without tearing the chain lock right out of the drywall. A hand shot through the space, fumbling around to try and unlock it despite the impossible angle.

He cleared his throat, interrupting her illegal actions. "Ms.… Novara. Please calmly take your hand away from the door, and I'll open it for you."

The woman complied, huffing loudly as Alex took his time unlocking the door's many locks – all six of them, plus the hidden button behind the hinge that disabled the extra alarm. Wolf had shown him this routine earlier in the week, so he managed alright. Just when he began to pull it open, Ms. Novara pushed forward and barreled through, looking around.

"Luke!" She shrieked. Alex raked his brain for a plan – he knew K-unit couldn't have left since Wolf parked his car out front – alongside his and Ms. Novara's. Rubbing his face, he called her once more.

"Luke isn't here."

"Yes he is. I just heard him a few seconds ago. I bet the rest of his crazy unit is here too, aren't they?" She spun around. "Don't lie to me, Mr. Rider!"

_She's like something out of a TV drama,_ Alex thought, feeling lightheaded. _How can someone be so…?_ "There's no one here but me, I swear. They, uh… took the dog for a walk."

Ms. Novara was staring at him analytically, trying to judge whether or not he was telling the truth. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she said sharply,

"I didn't know Luke had a dog." _Damn. Why_ did he say _that_, of all things?

Alex thought fast. "He… doesn't. It's Ben's dog… Snortus. The pug."

Ms. Novara straightened. "Ben has a dog?"

"That's what I said."

"A pug."

"Yes."

"Named Snortus." Alex honestly had no idea where the name had come from.

"That's correct."

Ms. Novara stood silently for another moment, thinking over the information given. Then she spoke again.

"I like dogs. When will they be back? I want to meet this Snortus."

Alex leaned back on the balls of his feet, as if thinking hard. "Oh, I don't know, they might not be back until tomorrow night. They got on these group walks, K-unit plus Snortus, and they just have so much fun that sometimes… they don't come back for days!"

Ms. Novara arched a perfect eyebrow inspecting him. "Where do they sleep?" She asked carefully.

Alex hadn't a clue as to where he was going with this. "O-on the… ground." He stammered.

"They sleep on the ground?"

"It's like camping, only more urban. More of a military trend, you wouldn't understand… Ms. Novara, I think you should go. I have a rare pharyngeal illness and it's extremely contagious, even fatal in some women. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Ms. Novara took a step away from him, looking mildly disgusted. "Are you serious? Why didn't you tell me earlier? Could I have already caught it?"

"It's a possibility. I'd get yourself checked out by a doctor, there's a really good one I see in Atlanta."

"… In the United States?"

"Uh huh. I'll see you around, Ms. Novara." Alex ushered her out the door before shutting it behind him, leaning against the face of it and closing his eyes. God, he was lucky she was so stupid, or that might not have gone over as smoothly as it did. However, now he had a new problem. Moving towards the back door, he stepped out and approached the shed, grabbing the handle and wrenching it open. K-unit was sill cowering in the back, and they shrunk away from the light.

"Is she gone?" Snake whispered. Alex nodded solemnly.

"Yes. Although something has come up and Fox, you need to buy a pug and name it Snortus."

Fox squinted at him from the shadows. "… What? _Hell_ no! _Snortus?"_

Alex threw his fist down on the wall. "Damn it, Fox! Sometimes you just need to take one for the team! Now get in the car!"

"But–"

"Do you want to explain to Ms. Novara why we lied to her about your pug?"

"I don't _have_ a pug – I don't even _like_ dogs!"

"Fox!" Wolf barked, "Shut up and go with Alex! That's an order from your superior!"

"Screw you!"

----

Fox glared down at his feet, trying to tune out the loud rock music blasting from Alex's speakers. As if he needed to hear _Heartbreaker _right _now._

"Zeppelin? _Really, _Cub?"

"You trying to pick a fight, Eagle?"

Eagle put his hands up in a show of surrender, but their banter was interrupted by a loud snort from beside them. Snake was trying to pin down a rabid black puppy while Wolf glared at him harshly, annoyed by the entire situation. Of course he'd do anything to escape Tammy, but he'd never liked pets in the first place. They were needy, loud, and high maintenance. Like babies and women. Of course, women had their perks, but the other two were nothing more than annoyances.

"Would you tell that thing to shut up? It's slobbering on me!" Eagle complained. Snake growled at him.

"It's not his fault! Is it, Snortus?" Snortus buried his nose in Wolf's crotch, making the man jump and give it an offended look.

"That dog is fucked in the head."

"He's just a puppy! He doesn't know any better!" Snake defended him, holding the struggling dog to his chest protectively. Fox rolled his eyes.

"Why can't Snake take the pug? They get along well enough."

"Because I already told Tammy that it was Fox's dog. He's not that bad," Alex tried to console. Wolf shot him a glower.

"Easy for you to say. You weren't just molested by the monster."

"Stop being such a princess. Of all the people you two should get alone best with the thing – you're _Wolf and Fox, _aren't you? All the eagles and snakes I know would probably do their best to eat him. All three of you are dogs!" Snake looked horrified by the thought of digesting the puppy. He covered its ears, shooting Alex a scandalized look.

"Well, you're Cub, so that makes you the closest. How about you do a little bonding with it, if you're so sure that _codenames_ make for _soul mates?" _Snake shoved the dog at Alex, who swerved, earning a wail from Fox as he went pitching forward to smack his nose on the windshield. Eagle laughed while Alex quickly took control of the wheel.

"Easy, easy!" Alex exclaimed, "I'm driving in case you haven't noticed!"

* * *

----------

If British schools end at some other time other than two-thirty, too bad because that's what time mine does and it doesn't really matter that much anyway. Maybe they end at three... but I don't know. Honestly, does it _really_ make a difference? For anyone unaware, spare is basically a free block/class some seniors get in highschool where they don't have a class. Some use it to study, others just chill and if it's at the end of the day then yes, they can leave early. Again: if the rules are different in Britain… well, lucky for Alex, I'm Canadian, and I control his universe in this story 8D

Review pleeease! :) :)


	9. With No Say in the Matter Whatsoever

Fox had returned back to his place after Alex suggested he and his new dog do some bonding, grudgingly hauling a rabid pug along with him. Snake had followed with a grin, and Eagle had decided to go home to make a date he had planned with Sadie. Pretty soon it was only Alex and Wolf left in the car while the older man stepped into the passenger seat and for some reason, it wasn't awkward. Just filled with the normal sarcastic taunting and teasing that Alex loved (and Wolf hated) so much.

"So what did Tammy say to you?" Wolf tried to inquire casually. Alex rolled his eyes at the obvious eagerness underlying his voice.

"She said that she missed you and would stop at nothing to have you in her arms for one more night."

Wolf's head snapped to the side to stare at Alex in astonishment. "She said _that?"_

Alex offered him a dead look. Wolf sighed in defeat, not even bothering to bite back.

"Women… _almost_ more trouble than they're worth." Wolf muttered, averting his eyes by looking out the window. Alex blew a strand of blonde out of his face, turning a corner while the pair headed back to the house.

"True that."

Alex moved forward to crank up the volume, as Wolf shot a halfhearted glare at the radio.

"Damn it, Cub. Were you even alive in the eighties or do you just like to pretend?"

"Shut up, shotgun. I'm driving, so I get to pick what we listen to. Any problems can be addressed to my lawyer, a Mrs. Get-the-fuck-out-of-my-car."

"And I respect that, I really do," Wolf responded loudly, "but Black Sabbath? You can do better than that."

"Them's fightin' words, Wolf. Could be worse. You wanna rock out to a little REO?"

Wolf clenched his eyes shut, shaking his head as he pretended to throw up. Alex laughed, and pulled the car into the driveway smoothly. He sure was a good driver for someone who supposedly spent all his time pretending to be an ignorant child on his missions. Then again, with the way Alex had shot up, he guessed that that hadn't been his role for a couple years now.

Alex locked the car and the two were soon back in the house, Alex immediately approaching the fridge. When he found there to be little food, another sigh was released into a household that was hardly unfamiliar with them, and he moved over to where Wolf was sitting on the couch before collapsing tiredly.

"Been one hell of a week," he admitted.

"Tell me about it," was the only growl of a response he received. Man, Wolf really wasn't one for conversation, was he? It was only then that Alex realized he hadn't talked to Jack for a while now, and he moved to tug his phone from his pocket.

He sped through the phonebook in his cell, eyes dropping on Jack's name before pressing the call button. When she picked up, he felt relief hearing her voice. It sounded so cheerful – he was glad he caught her in a good mood. Then again, being back with her _real _family, how could she not be?

"Jack?" Wolf froze, eyes darting to the right, where he could see Alex beginning to stand up so as not to disrupt Wolf. He started to move into the kitchen, and Wolf subtly followed, muttering about wanting a drink.

"_Alex! I haven't heard from you for days – Jesus, I was starting to get worried. What's up, buddy?"_

"Not much. Guess what, Jack? I got a car."

Jack was shocked. She hadn't known he'd even wanted one, never mind had the money to buy one. _"No way, Alex! What is it?"_

"'Sixty-nine Ford Mustang," He replied happily, "dark blue. And Wolf's a mechanic, so he's gonna help me fix her up."

"_That's great!"_ Jack replied warmly, _"It'll be nice you won't always have to use her car, right?"_

"Whose?" Alex asked absently, pulling the cereal box out of the cupboard and beginning to pour himself a bowl of Lucky Charms.

"You know, Sa–"

"Cub!" Wolf cried without much forethought, hearing Jack from his place a couple feet away as she began to drop the taboo name. Jack cut off and Alex jumped, dropping the phone and watching in dismay when it hit the hardwood and broke apart. He turned his chocolate eyes on the man, clearly annoyed.

"Brilliant."

"Sorry," Wolf dismissed, not even bothering to pretend he meant it, "I just need you to give me a hand with this."

He was holding the cutlery drawer open, and Alex looked down into it, staring for a moment before pointing and turning back to Wolf.

"Do you need me to take the spoon _out_ for you, Wolf?"

Wolf's mouth went dry, and he felt heat wash over him as he realized how stupid he'd just made himself appear. Alex granted him one last flat look before telling him in a bright tone,

"You're paying for that phone, you know."

* * *

Sabina's new apartment wasn't far from the university she was now attending. It was a bit small, but spacious enough to accommodate the two girls living in it. Sabina couldn't afford the place on her own, so she'd gotten a roommate. The girl she lived with was, unfortunately, kind of annoying.

"Sabina!" The loud brunette cried when she arrived at the apartment, the clock above the door reading eight-thirty. "Guess what? No, you'll never guess, I'm just gonna tell you: Doug finally asked me out!"

Doug was one of those guys you saw with the arrogant philosophical mindset. It was clear he was really full of himself, despite the fact that he had average looks and was well on the short side, but then again both Doug and Jennie, her roommate, were majoring in theatre. When Sabina had learned this fact about the bubbly girl, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in understanding. _It all makes sense now._

Sabina herself was undecided, though she was currently taking classes for history, law and English literature as well as a sculpting course and one in culinary arts. The final was one her friends had told her she needed to take desperately, as Sabina and K-unit had one thing in common: none of them had ever managed to successfully make a piece of toast without burning it.

"That's great, Jennie," Sabina answered from her place sprawled out on the couch, flipping absently through a magazine. She stopped when she noticed the advertisement for the newest Bond movie, smirking at the image it painted in her head.

"Isn't it? Anyway, he's taking us out to Bravo, that place down on Davies, and then we're gonna see Beauty and the Beast, you know, the live show or whatever? Yeah, Doug says it's gonna be really stupid, and he just wants to go for a laugh. He said he was gonna audition for the part of Beast, but he didn't want to take the part away from any aspiring actors looking for a break, since you know, he's already got his."

"What a nice thing to do," She commented, knowing Jennie would never detect the sarcasm hidden in the words. Predictably, the girl carried on, taking the words as a prompt to continue.

"You have _no_ idea. Sabina, I don't understand you! All of Doug's friends think you're _so_ gorgeous, and you _are, _and yet you keep turning them down! I mean hel_lo!_ Wake up and smell the hot guys!"

Sabina glanced over at the girl for the first time, noting the way her small figure had been maneuvered so her hands were on her hips and she was frowning down at her. Sabina pushed a strand of dark hair out of her face, responding carelessly,

"It's complicated."

A beat of silence ensued, and then all hell broke loose.

"It's _complicated? _What? I've never heard you say _that _before! So there _is _a guy? What's his name? Tell me _all _about him!"

_Oh God. Why did I say that._

"There's no guy."

"There _is_ and I _knew _it! S_aaa_b!! Gimme the dirt! Does he go to UChel? Do I know him? Oh my God, is it one of Doug's friends? It's not Trevor, is it? It _is _Trevor!" The girl looked like she was on E while carrying rabies. It wasn't pretty.

"He is _not_ one of Doug's friends!" Sabina snorted in an un-ladylike fashion, picturing Alex next to Doug and the rest of his skinny-jeaned V-necked friends. "And he's _definitely_ not _Trevor_." Then she realized she'd basically confirmed Jennie's theory that Sabina was seeing someone despite the fact that it wasn't true, and inwardly cursed her foot-in-mouth syndrome.

"So you admit it!" She girl practically screeched, making Sabina wince and look away, warming up. "There _is_ a guy!"

"There isn't," she protested weakly, knowing she was getting nowhere.

"Sabina, give it up. First off, what's his name?"

She sighed. The girl could go into annoying boy-crazy mode for the next couple of weeks, going after every single one of Sabina's guy-friends and pestering them for information on Sabina's invisible boyfriend (effectively making things completely awkward between them), or she could give out some carefully chosen pieces of information to keep the girl quiet. In the end, the choice was obvious. Jennie was loud enough without being given a megaphone.

"His name is Alex," she reluctantly admitted, "and I'm not seeing him or anything like that. In fact, I haven't talked to him in years." She informed the girl. It wasn't as though Sabina hadn't dated since Alex, it's just that he hadn't been in the picture. Now that she knew he was within arm's reach, and that his… friends… were trying to set them up, it felt wrong to go out with someone else. For now.

And even if there was no Alex factor, even Sabina knew she was better than _Trevor._

"What's he look like?" Jennie pressed. Sabina wasn't sure how much info she could give out on that one, considering she honestly had no clue how much he'd changed since she last saw him on the bridge after Eagle Strike, but she settled for the little things she knew couldn't've changed.

"Well… he's got blonde hair–" Sabina jerked back from the high-pitched squeal Jennie emitted, silently vowing to properly check out her next roommate before agreeing to live in the same apartment as them before continuing slowly, "and… these great light brown eyes… plus, he has these really light freckles that dot his nose, despite how much he denies it."

Sabina stopped. Jennie stared at her unblinkingly.

"On a scale of one to twenty, how hot?" She asked after the brief pause when she realized Sabina had no intention of finishing that train of thought. Sabina remembered the last time he'd asked her that after hearing her ratings of all the various men she'd spotted on the street, and how she'd told him he was just a twelve. After spotting the look of mock hurt on his face, she'd hastily corrected him that ten years would've made him absolutely perfect. Now she was eager to see what had changed in a mere three and a half.

"I couldn't say," she replied. Jennie deflated slightly.

"Oh," she muttered, "so what's he like?"

After hearing K-unit's description of the blonde (out-of-control, party-loving and apparently promiscuous) Sabina wasn't sure if she could accurately respond, but she gave it her best shot anyway, if only to reassure herself that he couldn't have changed _that _much. After all, he was still a spy – a fully instated one now, too.

"Well… funny. And relaxed," she added, sinking back into the cushions as she thought about him. "He was always really confident, too, although I guess he had every right to be, given the way he… uh… well, I know he's smart, and he can certainly hold his own against other guys," the words were coming out more as a musing now, while Sabina began to forget that Jennie was standing a few feet behind her, enraptured in the description.

"Keeps his head in really tense situations… maybe a bit too much," she added, thinking of how he'd ridicule the enemy into mistakes, usually landing himself an extra punch in the face of two for his efforts. "He's a great surfer," she offered finally, with a very uncharacteristic giggle that had Jennie gaping. "I was forced to give him mouth to mouth once."

"Oh my God!" Jennie wailed, "he's like, perfect! Why don't you talk about him more? Jeez, here you got me thinking he was some kind of_ leper. _I want to meet him! And how come this is the first I'm hearing of 'Alex'?"

Sabina looked down at her hands. "Well, I phoned him the other day, but he didn't return the call, so I'm not–"

"He'll call," Jennie told her with a convinced nod, "after all, it's _you."_

"Yeah," Sabina muttered, not nearly as confident, "me."

And as if on cue, her ringtone broke into action, blaring out a nearly unrecognizable version of _Eye of the Tiger._ Jennie gave it a shocked look while Sabina stared at the phone, stunned. Finally on the fourth ring, she gathered her wits and reached for it, opening it hesitantly and greeting,

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sabina," a voice greeted her. She recognized it as one of the men Alex was staying with – was it Oliver?

"Hi, Oliver. What've you got for me?"

"Tomorrow, New York Pizza, at… three o' clock. Can you make it?"

Sabina hesitated, mentally running through her plans tomorrow before deciding Lauren probably wouldn't care that much if they cancelled lunch. "Three o' clock? I can make some room. New York Pizza always did make it best."

"Awesome. He'll be there. Bye, Sabina."

"Bye."

* * *

"So, Plan B!" For the first time in a while, K-unit was gathered at Fox and Snake's place, rather than Wolf's. They were gathered around the kitchen table, discussing their options now that Alex and they were back on speaking terms. Snortus snuffled loudly from underneath Wolf's chair, much to the man's chagrin. Snake snickered at the expression he was wearing.

"Right. I'm thinking we'll bring Cub there for lunch. A… thanks for being so helpful with Tammy type of thing?"

Wolf glowered as Eagle laughed, and Fox nodded along with the statement. "Sounds good. Hopefully he won't be on to us before it's too late."

"No guarantee on that one," Eagle commented, "He's SO, isn't he? A certified smarty pants."

Fox looked more subdued. It was Wolf who spoke next, in his usual gruff voice. "Well, maybe we should tell him that I know a place downtown I'd be able to pick up some parts for his car, but we wanted to stop for pizza first."

Snake threw a fist down on the table, startling Eagle. "Now _that's_ an idea! And then we'll tell him to go in there and order us two pepperoni, and when he walks in we'll drive away! Then we'll park, walk back to the place, and make sure everything went down okay."

Wolf shifted his gaze onto Snake. "That's great and all, but I don't really care about Cub and this little blind-date thing, so how about I drive away, drop you guys off about a block from the pizza place, and then go grab a tall, cold beer at a pub to make up for the chick-flick-ish-ness of this whole plan?"

"You have to go. After all, it's your house; this is all to help _you. _Plus, it's not a lie saying that he's been enabling you into continuing to avoid Tammy rather than just confronting her like you should." Fox told him. Wolf sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win this one, and nodding dejectedly. If he had to go, he'd do it swearing colorfully, damn it all.

"Yeah, well, fuck this," he said, although the rest of the unit could easily detect the defeat in the man's voice. Snake clapped his hands together, much to Wolf's growing annoyance.

"So is that how it's gonna be? Great! Now let's get some sleep and prepare for suicide mission number eight-hundred and sixty-nine!"

Fox laughed the number sixty-nine while Eagle and Wolf moved towards the door.

They were in Wolf's Camaro today rather than the Mustang, despite Alex's weak protests. Alex took the passenger seat, while Eagle, Fox, and Snake took the backseat, all crowding into the middle so they could still participate in the conversation. AC/DC roared in the background, but it had been turned down so they could still hear each other.

"And we're not getting Hawaiian. That's a chick's pizza." Eagle told them stubbornly. Fox looked away, clearly annoyed, while Alex smiled in amusement. They were like siblings, still arguing over childish things even when most of them were well through their twenties. Pulling up beside the establishment of their choice, Wolf finally said the words they were all craning their necks to hear.

"Alright, Cub. Since it's _your_ car I'm picking up parts for, you run in and get the pizzas. Got it?"

Alex nodded, opening the car door and stepping out into the sunlight. He'd stolen Eagle's persol sunglasses back at the house, throwing on a loose white T-shirt and dark jeans before leaving the house, tugging at the necklace still tied around his neck. He'd had it since he was twelve – the very same wooden beaded one he'd worn in the South of France.

Sabina, waiting patiently inside New York Pizza, hadn't spotted him yet. She'd asked for a water, but other than that sat alone, not bothering to grab any pizza until Alex showed. She was nervous, anticipating his arrival with a bright eagerness and an underlying current of fear of rejection, but she didn't let any of it show, other than the way she was playing with her straw in pure nervous habit, and biting her lip as she imagined what he must be like now compared to the Alex she knew. Probably completely different. Why did she even agree to this in the first place?

The woman herself had worried little on what she was wear as she always had, and allowed her hair to flow naturally in dark curls. Her eyes were dressed in a pale violet eye shadow and she'd applied a bit of mascara, but other than that and some lipgloss, Sabina had decided to go natural. What was the point of plowing on ten pounds of foundation when she had nothing to hide? She wanted Alex to see who she'd become, almost as much as she wanted to see who _he_ had become – outside _and _in.

And as if on cue, the bell above the door jingled obnoxiously, drawing a wince from the old man sitting near the door. Alex moved towards the counter, and Sabina knew she should be intervening, but she was shocked. He'd gotten taller, a lot taller, and his hair had retained most of its lighter coloring, darkening only slightly. It was obvious he was nearly done growing altogether – she hesitantly stood up, surprised that he hadn't noticed her sitting alone next to the window before calling out softly,

"…Alex?"

He froze, recognizing the voice, and mentally swore at his luck. _Oh God, oh no, I'm not ready for this, I bet she's gorgeous, no…_

Slowly and painfully, Alex turned around, spotting the girl standing a couple feet away from him. Her fingers were twirling together nervously, and her feet were crossed at the ankles. He noticed the miniscule cut on her bottom lip – must have been from biting it. A nervous habit she had…

Why would she be nervous? Unless… she knew he was coming…

"_Shit,"_ Alex muttered under his breath before gathering up all the courage he didn't have and answering.

"Hey… Sabina…"

"It's – it's been a while, hasn't it? Small world…" she stated awkwardly. This wasn't going at _all_ like she'd pictured it – and then she realized that she never _had_ pictured it. She'd been so worried about how she looked and how he would look and how different he'd be that there'd been no time for any fantasizing. After a couple seconds of silence, Alex stepped forward, offering a shaky smile that she instantly recognized as fake.

"It's good to see you again," he said, but Sabina cut him off by shaking her head.

"Man, I knew I shouldn't have come, you don't want to be here…"

All theories confirmed about meddlesome units, Alex stopped her in her self-destructive thoughts. "No, it's not that, really… why don't we take a walk? Unless you're hungry, of course, I'm sure my ride's gone by now…" The last part was mumbled mutinously and mostly to himself, but Sabina caught it anyway.

"I'm not hungry, Alex, but maybe this _was _a bad idea. I mean I haven't seen you – since you were fourteen, and – well, but if this is how it's going to be–"

"No, it's fine, I'm being a jerk. I – I wanted to see you too." _But what I want and what I need are two __**very**__ different things, Sab._

"Of _course_ you did," she murmured thoughts in a whirlwind. Alex looked around them, only just noticing all the stares they'd begun to gather before taking the girl's soft hand and leading her out of the pizza parlor. Predictably, K-unit and the Camaro were gone like the wind.

"I'm sorry for not returning you call, I really am," Alex said as they began to walk down the street, the sun warming both of their skin, "It's just, well… things have been complicated."

"I believe that," she agreed, not a hint of sarcasm in her words. After all, what was Alex Rider, if not complicated? "Been partying too hard to check your voicemail?"

Yes, she understood his predicament, but at the same time she had trouble holding her tongue. If he hadn't wanted to see her, he could've at least phoned and told her that. _Stop it. Why is he obligated to do anything for you? You're the one who left with promises to write, right before completely abandoning the idea._

"Never mind," she hastily added, and he smiled at her, showing off perfect teeth. He'd been lucky – Alex had been born with them, and henceforth never had to suffer through the horror that was braces. Sabina hadn't been as lucky.

"You're right; you have every right to be angry at me–"

"No I don't. I'm just being selfish, as usual. If anyone should be cross here, it should be you."

"Well, you're mad, you're not mad, make up your mind," he huffed. She shot him a look, but it was laced with amusement at her own disorganization. _Pull it together, damn it. You're the oldest, shouldn't you be controlling this situation?_

"So what've you been up to?" She asked him, changing the subject. He paused – it was, of course, _the _vaguest question one could ask him, but he did his best to answer without compromising anything or lying at the same time. It was made easier that she knew about his day job, at least.

"This and that, you know. Almost out of school."

It seemed wrong to think that Alex was still in school – he seemed so grown up at seventeen, dwarfing her presence. But Alex was feeling the exact opposite, finding her more intimidating than ever with the way she was already in college, and he hadn't even graduated yet. They were both feeling like kids at the moment.

"No more saving the world?" She tried to make it light-hearted, but they could both the strain in her voice at the simple, joking question. She was sure he hadn't stopped at Damian Cray, after all.

"Someone's gotta do it," he returned with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. She instantly felt the need to wipe that off his face – pretend smiles were something Sabina never tolerated.

"You should make Oliver do it," she muttered, and he sent her a look.

"Oliver?"

She glanced back at him, not really bothering to think before she opened her mouth this time. "You know, your friend?" She realized this probably wasn't the best thing to confirm a second later, when Alex's eyes hardened.

"Eagle," he grumbled before turned back to her again, "speaking of our dear associates K-unit, do you realize they've been trailing us for a good twenty minutes now?"

Sabina's head snapped up, her expression startled. She hadn't even noticed – and the dark-haired girl had always prided herself on her instincts. They were being followed? Alex leaned down towards her, having the height advantage.

"_By the fountain, behind the guy playing guitar," _he whispered conspicuously, his breath warm on her ear as she repressed a shiver. She turned her eyes on where Alex had addressed, finally catching sight of the four men casually hidden behind the fountain and blending in with the group of five or so people crowded around the performer. Now that she knew where it was coming from, she could feel the familiar prickle that let her know she was being watched.

"And not just there," he grinned, keeping his eyes on hers, "we've got company by the hot dog stand, too."

Sabina moved her gaze over to the next place of interest, bewilderment hitting an all time high when she spotted her roommate Jennie accompanied by the aforementioned Doug, Trevor and one more of their buddies, Dan. She recognized each one, and attempted to school her expression into one of cool indifference.

"You look like you're dying, Sab," he hissed playfully, voice still low enough that only she could hear him. For some reason, she liked that tone. It was – secretive. Only for her. However, the deadpan in his words woke her up from her musings, and she turned to him, dark lashes hidden behind wide eyes.

"What should we do, Alex?" She asked him in a similar volume. Alex glanced over to where K-unit was standing, back to the group of Sabina's friends, and then straight at her. She gulped, and he grinned, light brown eyes glinting teasingly in the broad sunlight.

"I think," he moved in closer to her, and only then was she aware of how little space was left between them, "that we should give them something worth spying on, don't you think?"

He leaned down just as she parted her lips, capturing them in a kiss.

* * *

**Short chapter is short.**

Fanfiction, _stop_ killing my scene dividers! They're there for a reason! It's one damn hyphen, would you just _deal with it?_ D:

Bam cliffie! & STFU. Chick-flick-ish-ness _is_ a word, dammit! Or at least it will be, by the time I take over the world :) Sabina's here, finally. Let's see what people predict will happen next! And remember: this story is not _all_ about Alex and Sabina. In fact, it's supposed to be more about K-unit, so don't get too excited (or disappointed, depending on how much you like her. I promise I won't make her a Mary-Sue, either. -shudders-)

Dedicated to Veronica, who I'm sure is reading this. Happy birthday, bitch :)


	10. Facing the Fears

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Shut up, Wolf. You know you're secretly enjoying it."

"Oh, _yeah._ I can't think of any other way to spend my Saturday than following around my government-ordered charge play chicken with his girlfriend."

K-unit was piled behind a fountain, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Snake had taken a seat on a bench, holding a newspaper in front of him, low enough so he could still watch the pair over the top. Fox was pulling Snortus off of passersby's, apologizing for the dog's endless high. It was like he'd been conceived in a crack lab or something. Eagle stood next to Wolf, mock-swaying to the hippie's guitar performance next to them and enjoying an ice cream cone while the blue bubblegum flavor colored his face in a vibrant cerulean.

"Look at him! Here I was thinking he was good with girls, and they both look like they'd rather be anywhere but beside each other. Way to be smooth, Alex, you loser," Fox scoffed. Snake shot him a look.

"Talk any louder and he's gonna hear you. I mean we can't really blame them, don't they have some kind of history? It's like Tammy and Wolf."

Wolf flinched at the name while Fox scowled at Snake. "It _would_ be like Tammy and Wolf, if Sabina was a crazy hell-bitch. The only thing they have in common is the fact that they're both smoking hot."

"Dude. She's eighteen," Eagle complained. Fox rolled his eyes.

"And I'm twenty-six. Thank you for your insight, Eagle. It's not like I'm gonna hit on her, jeez, how mean would that be?" Fox looked over at Wolf, but the man was seemingly absorbed in something, his expression looking like he'd just swallowed a cantaloupe whole.

"Guys," he mumbled, "look."

They glanced over just in time to catch Alex swoop in and start kissing the girl, as if they hadn't been making awkward conversation seconds earlier. Sabina returned the gesture eagerly, surprising the group to no end.

"What the fuck! This is so not fair!" Fox moaned, yanking Snortus away from a small child who'd begun to cry at the dog's enthusiasm. The kiss had deepened into a full-on make-out session. Eagle grinned.

"Mission accomplished guys!"

Alex and Sabina broke apart, both breathing hard from the deprivation of air. Sabina chanced a glance in Alex's direction, who was smiling boldly at her. She playfully batted at him.

"Warn me before you do these things, jerk," she hummed, but the way her eyes had lit up betrayed the fact that she really didn't mind the ballsy move one bit. He'd gotten better since their last kiss on the bridge those years ago, she noticed – much better.

"Didn't seem to bother you so much a few seconds ago," he shot back. Sabina subtly snuck a look at where Jennie and the rest of the boys were hidden at the hot dog stand. Jennie was choking on something while Doug hit her back, trying to dislodge the piece of bun that had caught in her throat. Trevor was candidly staring at them in shock, and Dan was laughing at his friend's reactions. She supposed he didn't care that much considering they hadn't actually met. She had no clue why he was even there.

"So what next?" She asked him, peering up at the light brown depths. In response, he turned towards the fountain, calling out in a no-nonsense tone,

"Alright, guys, you can come out now."

He then twisted towards the hot dog stand, nodding at the group hidden behind it.

"You too."

Slowly, as if unsure they'd heard right, both groups guiltily revealed themselves. Sabina shot a glare at Jennie, who smiled weakly, while Trevor was openly hostile in the way he was regarding Alex. K-unit had the decency to look abashed (aside from Wolf, who crossed his arms and looked at him coolly, like he could do this stuff all day and still manage to look good. Yeah _right._)

Alex turned towards Sabina, this time conscious of the audience. "I'm sorry you got put through all this."

Sabina looked appalled. "Are you kidding? I helped organize this, Alex, what are you apologizing for?"

"You helped organize being spied on?" Sabina flushed.

"Of course not. I just… wanted to see you."

Alex sighed, running a hand over his short blonde hair. "I know. Maybe we could catch up – _properly, and without interruption_ – sometime next week?" Alex directed the emphasized work at K-unit, promptly ignoring Sabina's stalkers.

Sabina tucked a strand of ebony behind her ear, smiling. "That'd be really nice, Alex."

He threw her a lopsided grin. "You have my number."

"You have mine." She returned cheekily, the tone making it clear that if there was a next time, it'd be his turn making the call. Then she spun around to face Jennie and the others.

"Wow, you seriously followed me?" Jennie averted her eyes. Trevor glanced between them before pointing at Alex.

"Hey, Sabina, who is this guy, anyway? I haven't seen him at UChel."

Sabina sighed. He had no reason to be jealous, considering that she and Trevor were never particularly close and she'd voiced her dislike of his attitude to Jennie once. Unfortunately, Trevor had taken a liking to her – or rather, her appearance, since he didn't know her all that well at all.

"An old friend, Trevor. It's none of your business, anyway – why'd you even come?" Trevor didn't answer the question, so Sabina faced towards Jennie again.

The girl fidgeted. "I wanted to find out who the mysterious guy was."

At this, Alex's eyebrows rose, and Sabina reddened. She hastily turned towards Alex.

"Well, I'll call you later, okay?"

Alex nodded. "I'll see you, Sabina."

And he meant it. He could only resist so long – hearing her voice on his phone was one thing, but to keep away after seeing her, talking to her? He just didn't have that kind of self-control.

They locked eyes for one more moment before Eagle grabbed Alex's wrist the same time Jennie grabbed Sabina's, and the two were pulled away from each other.

Alex was sitting in the front seat of the Camaro, Wolf driving and the other three crammed into the back. He was being pummeled for answers, but in absolutely no mood to give them. His stormy eyes were fitting in perfectly with the weather, where the clouds had begun to overtake the blue, promising a soaked morning.

"So you guys are already at first base? And here I thought it'd take weeks before anything happened."

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong, Fox." Alex returned, shooting the disgruntled K-unit member an icy look. Snortus had tumbled onto his lap at some point, licking his face with an endless amount of saliva that continued to astound him. Now that they were out of the company of others, Alex's disposition had changed to one of controlled anger.

There was a bare pause, that seemed to stretch much longer than it really did. Eventually Eagle spoke up, effectively breaking it. "Cub–"

"Do have any idea what kind of position you've put me in now?" Alex immediately cut him off in that voice, cold and calculated and _furious_, keeping his eyes focused in front of him – though was it just them, or did they see the faint glint of happiness there? "Why'd you even do it?"

Eagle focused on Snortus. Snake whistled and stared up at the roof of the car. Fox sighed.

"Well, whatever our reasons were, you really like her, right? I mean you did kiss her – so no harm, no foul…"

"I wish that's how it works, Fox, I really do. But I think the only thing you've managed to do today is cut Sabina's lifespan in half."

Fox rolled his eyes. "Alex–"

He was once again interrupted. "There's no point in dwelling on it now, I guess. What's done is done."

And then the car lapsed back into uncomfortable silence, Wolf dropping Eagle off at his place and Snake and Fox off at theirs. Eventually they arrived home, the two exiting the vehicle without words. When they got inside, the first thing Wolf did was stop, clear his throat in a rather discomfited way, and ask gruffly,

"So, uh… you gonna… make dinner?"

Alex turned to look at him, mildly astonished, but after a second gave a nod to the affirmative before moving into the kitchen to begin. Wolf sighed in relief – the kid cooked like a god.

And godly it was. He'd made an easy salad with an Italian dressing, barbecued steaks in the yard and mashed the potatoes until he honestly couldn't find a single lump. He'd had no clue how much he'd have missed Alex's cooking had the boy said no in retaliation to today's stunt. After dinner, Alex had gone into the living room to watch TV while Wolf went upstairs, working on paper work he'd been assigned in his leave. Grumbling all the way, it was just over an hour later that he returned, drifting into where Cub was sprawled out on the leather couch. As soon as he'd entered the room Alex had hastily changed the channel. He raised an eyebrow, regarding the boy silently as Alex rose.

"I was just going upstairs," he told Wolf in a rushed mumble, pulling himself off the black cushions before leaving the room all together. Wolf stared down at the remote in his hand, his sharp eyes focused on the button with the tiny word _LAST_ printed on it.

_I shouldn't care that he didn't want me to see what he was watching. In fact, I wouldn't even bother checking if I knew we had any channels in the three hundreds…_ he rationalized himself. _…But… it could affect the whole team if Alex is hiding something._

It was bullshit, he knew it. What Alex watched on TV _affected the team _about as much as Snortus mauling that child in the park did. He was just so fed up with Alex's secrecy that he couldn't stop himself. His thumb pressed down firmly on the soft plastic, revealing the Channel Five News. Wolf resisted the urge to rub his face in exhaustion. Why would he take the time to hide–

"… –lectrical storm warning for you tonight, folks. Thunder, lightning, the whole shebang…"

_Oh._

Glancing over at the doorway, Wolf fought a mental battle like no others. The idea of ignoring the situation was more appealing than he could describe, but at the same time, Wolf had been brought up to have a big conscience – however well he managed to hide it.

_He's just a kid,_ he could almost hear his mother telling him patiently, _you should talk to him._

_Fuck it, he's hardly a kid anymore. He'll probably just kick you again anyway._

He knew that it wasn't really Alex's fault – like Sabina and he'd said, it was just a quirk that screwed him over whenever there was a thunderstorm. He couldn't be blamed for that, not like Wolf's fear of flying, which he still wasn't completely over even if he lied about it. However, K-unit had always been really cool about it. Snake had supplied him with cold water and Gravol, while Eagle and Fox worked to distract him from the flight by cracking lame jokes and flirting with the flight attendants. It hit him.

_You just have to know how to approach him._

And just like that, the devil on his shoulder was shoved back roughly by the angel. For whatever reason, knowing Alex was curled up alone in his room upstairs was unsettling. It'd been just over two weeks since the kid had begun living with him, and while he would never admit out loud that he could tolerate him – hell, even sort of enjoyed his presence… for the cooking only, of course – he couldn't deny his own thoughts. Alex was fun to live with. Annoying, but fun – and someone usually so vibrant should not be cramped up under a pile of pillows in terror over something stupid like an electrical storm.

Wolf resignedly rubbed his forehead, moving into the kitchen and placing a glass of milk in the microwave. Then he walked over to where the TV sat a couple feet away, pulling open the drawer on the shelf that held it and retracting a small black DVD case. He flipped through the pirated movies (whattarebel) before eventually pulling out a faceless CD with the scribbled, barely understandable words of _The Godfather. _What the hell – if in times like this you didn't watch _The Godfather, _then when the hell _did_ you watch it?

He shoved it roughly into the DVD player before glancing up at the French doors that led into the backyard, grimacing at the sight of the lightning splitting the sky. Cub must really hate the springtime. Mid-March did tend to bring these things around.

Reminding himself that doing this didn't make him any less of a man than he was, he pulled the warm milk from the microwave before disappearing up the stairs, deciding to go all the way with the niceness and knock on the door.

"… What?" Alex sounded similar as he did to the last time. Wolf knew he was probably piled under fifty blankets, pretending he was in sunny Mexico. Wolf pushed open the door.

"Hey," he offered, shifting in discomfort. "Here."

He handed Alex the glass of warm milk, who stared at it as though it was poison. His eyes flickered up to Wolf's dark ones in disbelief. Slowly, he pulled an arm out from underneath the covers to point at it.

"W-what's that?"

"It's a Ferrari, Cub. Just take it."

He hesitantly took the peace offering from Wolf, keeping his eyes trained on the man with a look of distrust coloring his features. After all that and the kid still treated him like the enemy – go figure. Then again, factoring in today's events, there wasn't much he could say on the matter.

"I–" Wolf rubbed his jaw, glancing around the room, _not_ looking at Alex, "–… put on a movie downstairs. _The Godfather. _Thought it was fitting."

And making the dark circles on Alex's face even more pronounced, his jaw dropped. Was Wolf trying to comfort him, in his own strange way? This all seemed to good to be true. When was K-unit gonna jump out and kick him in the balls before shouting out _Punk'd?_ He gave his closet a strange look, wondering if three men could fit in it. Then he remembered Wolf, standing beside him looking like he'd rather be in a pit of snakes than confronting him.

Thunder shook the house, scattering all of Alex's thoughts. He sat there, dazed for the next few seconds before finally answering softly,

"… Yeah?"

"Yeah."

And just like that, Alex pulled himself out of bed, placing the cup of milk on the bedside table in order to let him pull the fluffiest blanket along with him. Wolf raised an eyebrow at the action, but Alex just shrugged, completely shameless of the action.

"… Pussy." Wolf muttered. Alex grinned, whacking him on the head.

Wolf turned to gape at him murderously before returning the motion, and pretty soon the two were exchanging blows in the hallway, Alex aiming a left hook at Wolf's teeth. He blocked it, threw out a foot to clash with Alex's ankle and force him down, but was caught by surprise when Alex's hand flew out to catch his shoulder, forcing him to stumble forward while Alex regained his footing. Wolf swiveled, grabbing for whatever he could, and caught Alex's hair in his iron grip.

They both froze, Wolf staring at Alex and Alex staring at Wolf, both bewildered. Deliberately, Wolf released his hold on the blonde locks, and Alex rubbed his head in wonderment.

"… Did you just pull my hair?" He asked quietly.

"No. I did not."

"You so did!"

"No!"

"You _so_ did. Oh, man, I am so telling K-unit."

"Fuck you!" The two had begun to laugh at the absurdity of it. Wolf was supposed to have mastered combat in the SAS, and here he was, resorting to the favorite of twelve-year-old girls across the nation – hair pulling.

They stumbled down the stairs, clutching their sides. Alex was choking out various insults and jabs at Wolf's masculinity, while Wolf attempted to defend himself, knowing it was a lost battle. Eventually the two ended up on the couch downstairs, the movie playing, and was Alex engrossed enough to only manage weak winces whenever thunderclaps filtered through the walls. With someone beside him and something to distract him, the weakness was that much more bearable.

It was two a.m. when Wolf woke up to groggily realize that both he and Alex had fallen asleep on the couch, the empty glass of warm milk on its side beside the couch after Alex had done back for it. He sat up, rubbing his face and glaring at the music repeating in a loop from the DVD's start screen. Flicking it off with the remote, Wolf stood up, but his feet were twisted in the blankets and he pitched forward. Bracing himself for impact, he was surprised when he suddenly stopped falling mid-fall, and glanced back to see where Alex's hand had shot out to grab his arm, keeping him from landing on his face.

Alex looked half-asleep. "Mfhgh?" He said intelligently. Wolf rolled his eyes, tearing his arm out of Alex's grasp.

"Sure, Cub, whatever you say."

"Wha's happ'n?"

"Nothing's happening. We fell asleep."

Alex looked around, struggling to take in the events while he was still drowsy. "Nuthin's happ'n?"

"Come on, get up – we're going to bed." Alex turned to look at him, staring. The brown eyes still clouded with sleep didn't express any recognition – Wolf found it a little unnerving. He sighed, moving behind the teen to shove him towards the doorway. Alex stumbled forward, continuing in a tired shuffle up the stairs with the blanket clutching in one hand, dragging along the hardwood. After a moment of hesitation, Wolf followed.

When the two got to the top of the stairs and began moving into their respective rooms, Alex paused, hand touching the doorframe. He turned to look at Wolf, calling out softly,

"Hey, Wolf?"

Wolf stopped, eyes flickering over to meet Alex's own. Alex cleared his throat, focusing on his feet.

"I just wanted to say… you know."

"Yeah."

And then the two parted, Alex barely managing to wriggle out of his jeans before collapsing on his bed and falling asleep instantly. He didn't even have to say the words for Wolf to understand him. Maybe it was a military thing – communicating without words. No doubt K-unit was pro at it. Whatever the reason, he _was_ grateful – Wolf's gesture had made the night almost bearable, and the only other time they'd been that way was back when Sabina had caught him out on the couch, waiting the storm out. Literally.

Alex once again dragged himself out of bed at roughly one in the afternoon, wandering downstairs to find K-unit plus Sadie hanging out in the kitchen, Wolf standing in front of a plate of food that vaguely resembled roadkill.

"This is why we let Cub do the cooking," Eagle complained. Alex took this as his cue to enter, rubbing his face tiredly. He nodded at Sadie, not really noticing that he was only loosely dressed in dark boxers and a white T-shirt, and at the same time not really caring.

"I do not like green eggs and ham." He told Wolf plainly, gesturing towards the charred remains of breakfast with a look of disgust in his eyes.

"Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox?" Fox asked, snickering at his own pun. Snake punched him in the shoulder for going alone with the shameless Dr. Suess reference.

"Never again," he told him humorlessly. Fox agreed, shooting him an annoyed look while rubbing the abused area before facing Alex.

"I think a piece of bacon or two managed to survive Wolf's massacre if you wanna fry 'em up, Cub,"

"Sure, but I'm not sharing," he warned, moving over to the fridge. "I shouldn't have to pay because you guys let Wolf cook."

"No fair!" Fox whined, hands clamping down on Alex's shirt, "I demand nourishment!"

"You have your own fridge, freeloader!" Wolf barked, whacking Fox. Fox turned around and promptly returned the gesture, with Sadie sitting on Eagle's lap in the living room a couple feet away, watching the exchange and allowing a few muffled giggles to escape. At the dirty looks she received from the men in the kitchen for being amused by their arguing, she buried her face in Eagle's shoulder. Eagle smiled, sending a thumbs up at the group, who simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"So when are you gonna call Sabina, Cub?" Fox tried for nonchalant, and failed. Alex blew a strand of fair hair out of his face, shooting the man an annoyed look.

"Why should I tell you? So you can follow us again?"

Fox winced. Snake clapped him on the shoulder, leaning in towards Alex's face with a wild smile.

"Well, considering you guys were making out on the first date, the second should make an interesting show." Eagle burst out laughing while Sadie choked. Alex's eyes widened at the implications and he shoved Snake back, looking faintly embarrassed. That was the first time they'd ever seen the kid look abashed for anything, so it came as a slight shock.

"Ah, shut up. Like Sabina would do that on the second date anyway!"

"But _you_ would!" Fox snickered. Even Wolf had to cover up a grin, warming up to the carefree atmosphere that had overtaken his kitchen.

"Yeah, what about Thursday! What do you call _that, _Alex?"

"… Friends with benefits." He decided after a pause, sending Sadie and Eagle tumbling to the floor in laughter, Sadie yelping as the slid off the chair through her own laughs. Snake roared, hitting the counter.

"Seventeen!" Fox cried in frustration. "Damn it! I hate you Cub! You should _not_ have FWB at seventeen!" He lightly bashed his head against the wall in mock-misery.

Alex threw the bacon in the pan, attempting to change the subject as he cleared his throat. "So, you guys heard from Tammy lately?"

Any mirth Wolf might've had on his face was swiped clean at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name. He sobered immediately, shooting Alex a glare for bringing it up.

Snake observed the reaction with a knowing look before stating dryly, "Oh, it looks like we have a winner. What'd she do this time, Wolf?"

Wolf glared at them mutinously, but reluctantly gave in. "… fourteen messages on my phone. _Fourteen._"

"Is that a new record?" Alex asked, turning on the coffee maker.

"Not even close," Wolf, Snake, Fox and Eagle all chorused flatly.

"She wants to meet today at Cantinelli's."

"Are you gonna go?" Wolf shot him a dead look.

"Yeah, Fox, I'm gonna go out to lunch with my insane ex-girlfriend."

"It was just a question," Fox defended himself, moving backwards to take a seat at one of the kitchen table chairs next to where Snake had just sat down. Alex pulled a mug out of the cupboard, inspecting the way it had been crudely painted and glazed, the words "World's Best SAS Team Leader" slopped on in light blue paint. Underneath there was a dark blob that Alex didn't even attempt to identify.

Alex turned towards the group, who had gone back to their boyish banter. He held the cup with an expectant look, waiting for some kind of explanation on its existence.

After a few seconds the group noticed Alex's silence and glanced over. When they took in the mug's presence, they fell silent also, and Fox cleared his throat and coughed, weakly explaining,

"Birthday present. Last year. We all made it."

"Why is Snortus on it?" Alex asked them, eying the blob.

"It's supposed to be a wolf." Snake clarified weakly. Alex's eyebrows rose as he nodded with comprehension. He turned to Wolf.

"Can I use it? All the other ones were dirty."

"You can _have_ it. That thing is an eyesore." He told him.

"Then why do you still have it?"

"…" Eagle smiled, quietly mumbling "_busted"_ to Sadie, who also grinned, elbowing him lightly. "_Be nice,"_ she whispered back, making Eagle snicker.

Alex decided to spare Wolf, moving away from the topic by bring up once again, "You know, Wolf, I think you should do it this time. Go see her, I mean."

Everyone in the room swiveled towards Alex, who was pouring his coffee now. At the quiet that settled over them, he glanced up, bewildered at the looks he was receiving. After a few more seconds of tense silence, Snake hissed,

"_Are you insane, Cub?"_

He looked affronted. "Here me out first, jeez. I think you should go, act like a dick, make it the worst date ever and turn her off you for good."

"Tried that," Fox sighed. "It didn't work. She likes him when he's straight-out mean, and we even dressed him completely in Ed Hardy. She still liked him."

Alex snorted into his coffee at the choice of clothing, coughing and glaring at Fox who'd begun to laugh at the slip up. "Wolf. I have the solution. You're not gonna like it, but it's foolproof."

"I'll do anything at this point," Wolf groaned, slumping. Alex nodded; face completely serious as he turned towards the dark haired man.

"Tell her you're gay."

This suggestion was met with a beat of silence, Wolf's jaw working. After a couple of seconds, he muttered,

"… What?"

"You heard me. And _I_ heard _you._ 'I'll do anything,' I think it was?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Whatever, man. All you have to do is say it." Eagle chimed in.

The group contemplated it, and after a minute Wolf reluctantly gave a short nod. "Whatever it takes, whatever it takes," he chanted under his breath, standing up and moving towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Snake asked, and Wolf spared a glance at him.

"Where do you think? She should already be there. I'm gonna end this once and for all."

"You'd think he was going to do something cooler, hearing him right now, rather than telling his ex-girlfriend he's gay."

"Whatever it takes!" Wolf repeated in a shout, throwing his fist into the air before snatching his coat off the table and pulling it on, the cool air from yesterday's storm still lingering. The group rushed forward, grabbing him before he could walk out the door.

"We're coming with you!" Snake told him gravely.

"Yeah, how could we let you do something like this alone?" Fox said.

"Of course you're coming with me. Fade into the background though, alright? I don't want you guys to get hurt when she starts throwing plates."

"Somehow, it doesn't seem as special since he expected us to come from the start," Fox muttered. Sadie rubbed the back of her head, telling them weakly,

"Actually, I can't go – I'm due in court in a few hours." Eagle planted a kiss on her cheek, telling her lightly,

"It's fine. You can take my car home."

Sadie vanished into Eagle's car, pulling out of the driveway and disappearing around the corner. Soon the rest of the group was piling into Wolf's, with said man sitting in the driver's seat, hands clenched around the steering wheel.

"You can do this, Wolf," Snake encouraged him, "this is it. This is the last time you'll ever have to see her."

Wolf nodded, steeling himself to his mission.

"Let's go."

* * *

0o0o0o

This story _does_ have a plot. No, really.

UChel is short for the University of Chelsea, if you were wondering. Oh, and when Wolf says "_In fact, I wouldn't even bother checking if I knew we had any channels in the three hundreds…" _I thought I might clear this up. At my friend's house, most of the channels in the three hundreds are porn, so… haha. You do the math. And Gravol is a pill my cousins take since they get carsick.

This chapter was more focused on Wolf and Alex since I was beginning to think their relationship was being neglected. Haha Wolf, the softie. For people hoping to see more Sabina, don't worry, she'll return, I promise :)

Please help me reach two-hundred reviews! Please please please!

Next chapter: alvida zein, Tammy.


	11. All You Need is Love

"_You can do this, Wolf," Snake encouraged him, "this is it. This is the last time you'll ever have to see her."_

_Wolf nodded, steeling himself to his mission._

"_Let's go."_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 11**

All You Need is Love

The five men pulled up to the parking lot of _Cantinelli's_, the restaurant Tammy had picked out for Wolf and her to have dinner at. Wolf entered first, looking around for a bit until he spotted the dark red head of hair near the back of the restaurant. Tammy had left it down in thick waves that fell past her shoulders and stopped just above her waist. Wolf hesitated.

Snake suddenly shoved him forward, the other four men pushing their way into the fancy Italian establishment. Then his voice was hissing in Wolf's ear,

"Second thoughts _now? Really?_ You are so shallow."

Wolf felt his face heat up. "Shut up! I'm going, okay!"

Fox let out a low whistle. "Damn. I'd forgotten how hot she was. Good luck, Wolf."

The four of them allowed the host to move them to a table before ordering drinks; Wolf alternatively began heading towards the table, trying to keep himself steeled to his mission. However, when her head turned and her light blue eyes hit his own, he felt his resolve slip away.

She was once again wearing her customary hip-hugging clothes, this time in the form of a tight white button-up V-neck and a black pencil skirt that ended a few inches above her knees. Sitting had forced it to hike up a bit, revealing tan legs without any stockings. It was a difficult task in getting his eyes back up to look at her face, but she didn't seem to notice him blatantly checking her out. Around her neck she wore a string of pearls wrapped around a couple times until the layers hung loosely, shimmering in the light.

"Luke! You came!" She cried, waiting for him to sit down, but he just stood there awkwardly in front of her. Feeling uncomfortable and as if he was going to give in any second now, he rubbed the back of his neck, concentrating on a potted plant a few feet away from them.

"Yeah, uh, listen Tam…"

"Sit down already; I haven't seen you in weeks!"

"I'm not staying."

He face fell. "You're… not?"

"No. I'm leaving. It's… it's over. When you said we were finished last time, I was already planning on breaking things off with you. You need to stop calling and showing up at my house now, okay? Move on. We're not getting back together."

Tammy didn't seem put out by the rejection, though. "Look. Whatever happened, I'm sorry. But let's not be making stupid decisions now. We both know that we'll be spending the night at my house tonight."

Wolf swallowed, his eyes glazing over at the images that flooded his brain with that invitation. "Uhh…"

From their place not too far away, Fox leaned out to watch the scene. K-unit was developing a talent at spying on couples.

"She's breaking him down, I can see it!"

"What should we do?"

"Let's just see what he does for now; if he sits down, we'll take action."

Wolf racked his brain for his resolve from a few minutes ago, trying to fight her spell.

"It's just not working out–"

"Look, Luke: you always do this. You tell me it's over, and then you leave, and then I show up at your house and guess what? Of all four times it's happened, we've always ended up in your bed. Just stop denying things and we can leave right now. The only reason _I_ broke up with _you_ last time was because you slept with that girl–"

"I _didn't_ sleep with Sadie! She was only there when you showed up because she's dating one of my friends! For God's sake, Tammy!"

"Whatever, Luke. I already told you I forgive you for that. Now let's get out of here and continue with the usual routine of make up sex following our break ups."

"I…" He struggled to keep a handle on his mission, every male urge in his head screaming to take her up on the offer. "I… okay…"

She smiled at the easy victory, standing up and taking his hand before beginning to lead him out the door. Wolf had a dazed look on his face. Snake dropped his face into his palm.

"He's so weak," the man moaned. Eagle stood up.

"Well, that's our cue."

The two were just about to leave when suddenly Fox's voice startled them into pausing.

"It's Luke! Oh my God! What are you doing here, man?"

"Oh, what are the chances of all of us being here at the same time?" Eagle chimed in.

"Pretty damn low, I'd say," Alex agreed animatedly.

Tammy slowly turned around, her grip on Wolf's hand tightening. She forced a plastic smile on her face.

"Ah, Luke's friends. Fancy meeting you here…"

"That's our line, really," Fox cut in, "Luke told us he finally broke up with you over a month ago."

"He was confused." She ground out. Wolf, upon seeing his unit in front of him, seemed to regain his composure and yanked his hand out of Tammy's, drawing an angry glance from the woman.

"No, I wasn't. It's really over, Tammy; we're not seeing each other anymore."

The scene was beginning to draw the attention of the other people in the establishment as they watched the spectacle with hungry eyes. Drama was always a nice companion dish to dinner, especially the kind that didn't personally affect their lives.

"Why _not, _Luke?" She demanded, stamping her foot in frustration. "We're great together! Why are you so determined to mess things up? You can't deny the chemistry we have!"

"Um, actually, he can," Alex cut in, forcing the woman's attention over to him, "see, Luke's recently… how we say… come out of the closet."

The rest of the unit was desperately trying to not laugh, firmly suppressing the grin that threatened to light up their face. Tammy's eyes widened as she turned to Wolf in shock.

"You're _gay?"_ She sputtered. Wolf nodded awkwardly.

Suddenly she was sneering. "… no, you're not. This is just another one of your ploys to break us up. Well, it's not gonna work."

Fox, seeing their plan begin to fail, hastily attempted to correct the situation. "No, he is! Really! Luke… just doesn't like girls like that."

Wolf tensed, but forced himself to be quiet and go along with it. Tammy smirked.

"Yeah, right. Luke's not gay. He's proved that to me again and again… and again… and again..."

Her voice became lower and lower until it was little more than a purr near the end. She winked at Wolf, who managed to keep his composure despite the heavy train wreck of memories that barreled into his brain.

"Nope, he's gay." Alex smiled brightly, completely ignoring her move.

She looked at Wolf expectantly. Wolf cleared his throat. "Yeah. I am."

Tammy was beginning to look angry again. "Yeah? Prove it then."

"What? How?" Wolf asked her incredulously. She put one hand on her lip, eying him doubtfully.

"The gay guy is asking _me_ how to prove he's gay?"

Slowly, the implications of what she was implying flooded his brain, and he began to turn red. Fox blew a strand of hair out of his face, rolling his eyes, but it was Eagle with an exasperated sigh that took action.

"Oh, for God's sake."

He stepped forward, grabbed Wolf's shoulders, spun him around and promptly pressed their lips together in a kiss. Wolf was frozen, his mind having gone blank, while Snake's jaw dropped. Alex turned around, trying to smother his laughter before anyone noticed him. Fox did the same.

After a few seconds they broke apart, Wolf feeling dizzy with shock. Tammy was gaping at them as Eagle wiped off his mouth.

"See? He totally enjoyed that, right Wolf?"

Wolf stared at Eagle, then at Tammy, then at Eagle before turning back to Tammy.

"… Oh yeah. Oliver and me. You know."

"You're… together?" She asked, eyes widened to a comical size.

"He tried to tell you," Fox defended, cutting in. The onlookers of the restaurant were watching with various reactions – some people were laughing, others were gawking, some people were desperately trying not to look. Tammy's mouth moved, red gloss gleaming in the dim lighting before finally her face contorted with rage.

"You were _cheating _on me with _a guy?"_ She shrieked, turning around to seize the plate of a man out for dinner with his wife. She grabbed a handful of the food before pitching it across the room, where the potato/Caesar salad mix collided with Wolf's face. He stumbled back, hand moving up to wipe the salad dressing from his eyes with a hiss, but before he could get anywhere the next barrage hit.

"How many times must you cheat on me before you're _satisfied? _We were _perfect_ for each other! I guess now I know you were just _using _me this whole time, weren't you, you asshole?"

"Tammy–" She spun on Snake, planting the plate straight into his face before pulling it back. The half-finished steak fell to the ground, landing on Snake's shoe. Snake back away from the catatonic woman. Then she turned on Eagle.

"This is all _your _fault, Oliver, you man-stealing whore!"

Alex burst out laughing as Eagle's eyebrows rose, but then just as Wolf predicted, the plate was the next thing to be thrown. Eagle swerved to dodge as the plate hit the wall behind him and shattered. Two waiters and a waitress shouldered their way into the small group, ushering them out the door, but Tammy clean punched the waiter in the face before turning to the table she'd taken the plate off of and grabbing the other one, launching the food at K-unit as they began to run to the door. She threw the plate, hitting Fox in the back of the head as the man tripped, falling flat on his face.

Alex turned around as the rest of K-unit fled with a helpless look on his face.

"Fox!"

"Go on without me…!" He cried dramatically. Tammy stomped over to him, a glass of red wine in her hand before dumping it over his head, soaking Fox's shirt. Fox stared up at her in terror.

"Run, Cub!"

"I won't leave you behind!"

He made a wild grab for Fox's arms, yanking him up into a standing position. However, Tammy caught him by the back of the jeans, hand hooking around one of the belt loops. Fox grabbed the edge of the door, tearing him away from the woman before Alex pushed the door shut, preventing Tammy from following as the group crammed themselves into the car.

Alex felt the woman's fists pounding against the glass doors through his back, and waited until all of K-unit was in the car with one of the backseat doors open before throwing himself forward, Tammy falling through the door as the blockage was suddenly removed. She ran after him, able to run in heels surprisingly well, but Alex dove into the car and Snake slammed it behind him before Wolf put the pedal to the metal and they sped off, leaving Tammy's furious screaming behind.

A couple beats of silence ensued before everyone was talking at once, Snake and Eagle laughing, Fox crying and Alex gasping. Wolf still hadn't recovered, focusing what little brain power he had left solely on the task of getting home.

"You know she'll be back," Snake reasoned after all the ruckus died down, "she knows where you live. That didn't end as cleanly as I thought it would."

"You thought that would end cleanly?" Fox moaned from where he was slumped in his seat, rubbing the back of his head. The plate hadn't broken like the first one had, but it still hurt like a bitch. "It's _Tammy, _honestly."

"Yeah, but still." Eagle agreed. "She was throwing food! What the hell?"

"At least you managed to convince her you were gay with Wolf," Alex grinned, receiving two twin whacks on the head from Wolf and Eagle.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"We never speak of that again," Wolf directed his words to Eagle, who grinned widely.

"Whatever you say, captain."

"I'm telling Sadie," Snake cut in serenely, raising a hand.

"The hell you are!" Eagle snapped, turning around and throwing himself at the man in order to strangle him despite his being in the front seat while Snake was in the back. Soon the two were wrestling as Eagle maneuvered himself into the back seat, one foot planting itself in Wolf's face. The whole car swerved as the group let out a loud "Whoa!" before Wolf pushed the foot away from him and regained control of the car.

"Eagle, sit _down!"_ He commanded, grabbing the man by the back of the collar and forcing him into his seat. Eagle yelped and complied, while Alex laughed, leaning forward to turn on the radio, ever the music addict. Wolf let Eagle out back at his place and Snake and Fox out at their before Alex climbed into shotgun and the two pulled up beside Wolf's house.

Wolf immediately began to head upstairs. Alex's eyes followed him.

"It's only eight-thirty, you know."

Wolf laughed humorously, continuing.

"Do I look like I care?"

Once he'd entered his bed, the man was asleep within seconds.

* * *

o0o0o0o

He was in a building.

Not his house – not one he recognized at all, actually. All he knew was that as soon as he found himself standing in the dimly lit hallway with the walls of red brick, he wanted to leave. Absently, Wolf glanced around for the rest of his unit, or anyone at all, but there was no one, so he began to move forward, mapping his way through the hallway as he went along.

He was stopped when the sharp sound of gunfire hit his ears, as well as someone crying out. Slightly panicked, Wolf sped up, only just realizing the danger he was in. He had no clue where he was, or where his friends were, and to make matters worse someone had a gun. Now breaking out in a full out run, he skidded around a corner, finally coming upon a hallway with doors. Steeling himself, he tried the knob and upon discovering it to be locked kicked the first one open, throwing it forward as the hinges creaked in protest. Peering in, he found it to be dark and unoccupied other than a few boxes, so he hurried on, moving to the next door and repeating the tactic. He needed an exit.

The next two doors had a similar setting behind them, and he found he was getting nowhere, fast. There it was again – two clean shots, and the sound of something hitting the ground. This time it was louder – he was getting closer to whoever was feeling so trigger-happy today.

Despite being in the unfamiliar surroundings with no idea where or why he was there, as well as being completely alone, Wolf kept his cool. At least for the next eight seconds, when the fourth bullet was heard – because less than a second after, there was the sound of someone yelling.

"Shit – he got him!"

It was Fox's voice.

But who was _him?_ Snake? Eagle? Or could Cub be there, too? His stomach lurched at the idea of any of them being hurt. They had to be wondering where he was – now one of them was injured, and he wasn't even there to help. He flew forward, hand shooting out to catch the corner of the wall as he propelled himself around it, moving into the next corridor. There were more bullets, and someone cried out – there was the sound of something hitting the ground again, and then someone was yelling someone's name –

"Wolf!"

Wolf planted his foot in the door, not bothering to try the handle before the force of the kick sent the door straight to the floor, the hinges ripped right out of the wooden frame. The sight that hit him was something that knocked the breath out of his lungs.

Oh God. He let this happene–

"You guys–"

"Wolf–"

"What's –"

"He's not breathing!"

_Thud._

Wolf awoke with a start, abruptly sitting up and blinking as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. There was a slight tingle in his left fist, and he didn't have time to wonder why before he heard the muffled voice from beside his bed.

"Shit, Wolf…"

Wolf's eyes shot over to where he spotted Cub's lean form crouched on the ground, one hand rubbing his jaw. Wolf finally put two and two together despite his still sluggish mind, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Kicking the covers off, he let his feet touch the cool hardwood floor beneath him, standing up to get a better look at his charge.

"It's your own fault for coming in here in the middle of the night." He said gruffly, glancing over at the clock and finding it to be three-sixteen in the morning. Alex shot a glare at him, taking the hand Wolf offered him and pulling down harder than necessary, pushing himself up into a standing position while Wolf stumbled downwards slightly. It was Wolf's turn to glare.

"Well the thing I normally do at three a.m. – sleep – was disrupted by my wonderful unit leader."

The nightmare rushed back to him all at once as he growled, "What did I do?"

Alex's eyes roamed over to the broken lamp lying in pieces on the floor next to his bedside table, and Wolf followed his gaze. He must have somehow hit it in his sleep.

"When I got in here, you were thrashing. So I tried to wake you up, and you punched me in the face." Alex complained. Wolf looked down.

"Oh. Oops."

"Yeah. Oops."

"Anyway, go back to bed. How will you be able to think up all of your great punch lines on just a few hours of sleep?"

"There's no point. Getting punched in the face tends to have the effect of waking someone up past the point of being able to nod off again, especially for people like us."

"Smartass."

"Name calling? Well. At least I don't sleep-punch people."

"I guess even unconscious I just can't stand you."

"Who's stopping you from kicking me out of this house right now then, if you can't stand me so much?"

"Oh, I don't know – the head of Britain's Military Intelligence?"

"They're not so tough. You're just a scaredy-cat."

"Now who's name calling?"

Alex laughed, running a hand through his blonde hair. "Whatever. I'm gonna go downstairs and watch some TV. You gonna go back to sleep?"

It seemed the two had fallen into a routine of friendly banter after living together for two weeks now. Wolf glanced over at his disheveled bed, thinking of the dream that just passed. A chill ran through him, and he struggled to repress the shiver that might give away how rattled he was to the teenager in front of him. Without a shred of remorse he turned towards the door, mumbling,

"Nah. Something tells me I'm not gonna be getting any more sleep tonight."

That dream had felt far too real for him, and it gave him a sense of foreboding. If anything like that ever happened to him, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get past it. His unit was like his family, loathe as he was to admit it, and not only did he feel like he was responsible for their safety – he was listed as such, being the team leader. After some time, they became even more than just his teammates – the four men were friends. Best friends, actually. And Alex had been slowly and unknowingly snaking his way into that close circle of people Wolf actually gave a damn about. He was a part of the unit, codename Cub – whether Wolf liked it or not.

He wasn't sure what he'd do if he lost even one of them. Including the smartass teenager that couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his life.

Alex shot him a wide grin, reassuring and bright even though the shadows made it hard for him to make it out.

"I call remote."

* * *

o0o0o0o

Alex was sitting in class, tapping his pencil on his forward as the teacher droned on and on about some little insignificant country's political structure or something equally as dull. He'd stopped listened ten minutes ago along with most of the class, deeming the information unimportant. He knew most of it anyway, and anything else he needed to know for a test he'd either find out from Tom or James later. Absently, Alex began doodling a giraffe on his workbook, emitting a giggle from the girl sitting across from him. He glanced up and smiled, and he could practically see her swoon. _To easy. And tonight – _

_Oh wait – Sabina…_

_This is gonna take some getting used to,_ Alex realized with a sigh, giving her one last look before his eyes travelled back to his book. Oh well – Sabina was prettier anyway. And funnier – the girl next to him was named Vanessa, and she was also in his English class. She was pretty, sure, but she was also kind of a ditz and really self-centered. Sabina was the opposite. Hotheaded and reckless – she proved the latter just by hanging around him. _Why?_ He wondered. _What the hell is so great about me? Why do __**any **__of these girls like me?_

His giraffe doodle was morphing into something different – a gun. He sighed, scribbling the picture out before glancing up at the board. Nothing new had happened. He wasn't sure if this class could get any more boring even if it tr–

Just then, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Glancing down, the name on the screen registered to him as the very person he was thinking about. Sabina had sent him a text. Tugging the phone out of his pocket and flipping it open, he read the words over before smiling.

_having fun in school, little boy?_

_probably not as much you. what are you doing?_ He typed in reply before sending the text and leaning back in his chair, sighing and staring up at the ceiling. Long class. Sabina, from her place at home where she was working on college course work, flipped open her phone before sending back,

_course work for college. it only gets harder i'm afraid_

Alex glanced out the window, deciding that the weather was sunny purely to annoy him, as that was the only logical reason for such warm weather in March. Rubbing his face, he felt his phone vibrate in his palm, and flipped it open to read. He sent back,

_well, you could always just not do it… and i could always "go home sick"… we could conveniently both go to the same café for lunch_

_skipping school?_

_that's one way or putting it. _

_always the rebel, alex_

_you know me_

The conversation continued through most of the class, getting him through the otherwise boring subject. By the end of it, Alex stood up, smiling down at his phone as he threw together another reply. Tom watched him from the corner of his eyes – Alex texted girls fairly often – it was the universal way of getting to know someone the easy way for teenagers, after all – but that smile was one he'd never seen his best friend wear before. It was somehow… different. He knew that look.

Just then, the girl from before – Vanessa – approached Alex, tapping him on the shoulder. She asked him something, and he seemed to look sheepish for a second before saying something quietly. She took on a disappointed appearance before nodding and turning away, her eyes reflecting anger. Then she left.

Tom walked over to his friend. "Hey, what was _that_ about?" Tom asked. Alex glanced away, running a hand through his hair.

"Uh, I had to turn her down."

"What? Why? Vanessa's hot–"

"Well, it's Sabina. We're sort of… I don't know," he said exasperatedly. "We're kind of seeing each other now."

"Sabina?" Tom perked up. "Does that mean you changed your mind about–"

"_No,_" Alex responded before taking a breath and saying again, "yes and no. It wasn't my choice – K-unit set us up. But… shit, Tom. It's too late now – no going back at this point. Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to. Which I do."

"What?" Tom asked bluntly. Alex massaged the bridge of his nose.

"I don't know. But for once, I'm just gonna be selfish and do what's best for _me._"

His best friend snorted. "'For once'?"

Alex hit him, drawing a low moan of pain from his dark haired friend. Being the last two people in the classroom, they exited together, only to discover Vanessa lingering just outside the door. She shot them a look before fleeing, and –

"Shit!" They both swore, turning to each other. "She heard all that!"

"Now _everyone's_ gonna know!" Alex groaned, banging his head on the doorframe. Tom patted his back.

"We can always… I don't know… uh… no, you're screwed."

"Tom, you're supposed to be the positive one! Come on, give me a silver lining!"

"I'm an optimist, Alex. Not a miracle worker."

He sighed. By the time he got to his car he'd be confronted, he was sure. Normally with Tom's help, he'd just sort things out like that time when Wolf had confronted him about taking his car, but he'd promised to meet up with Sabina today, and he didn't want to be late. How would he explain that the reason he showed up fifteen minutes past the time they agreed on was because he was attacked by his groupies? Plus, he didn't want her to have to wait.

Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced down, hesitantly tugging it out and flipping it open. After reading the message, his eyes widened in slight fear. Tom shot him a look of pure curiosity.

"Alex? What is it, Alex?" He asked excitedly. Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Leave it to Tom to get excited over childish things like his expression when reading a text. He turned the phone towards is friend so that the teenager could read it, and when he did, his jaw dropped.

_screw it, i'm just passing your school now, so come outside. i'm in the red mini coop._

"She's _here? Now?_ Oh my God, I _have_ to see this!"

"Gimme your hoodie!" Alex demanded in a hiss, grabbing Tom's sleeve. Tom glared at him.

"Say please!"

"Seriously," Alex's eyes turned pleading, "I cannot let her see me get hounded outside. It would be way too humiliating." Tom stared him down for a moment longer before shrugging off the dark hoodie, looking indignant. "Giving me that damn look…" he muttered, "you fight dirty…"

Alex grinned widely, snatching the material out of his best friend's hands in order to push his arms through the sleeves and zip it up. Then he flipped the hood up. Tom smothered his laughter at the intimidating appearance. Alex whacked him.

"Come on, let's go." He started towards the stairs while Tom followed, rubbing his shoulder and grumbling along the way "_You're too violent, Alex…"_

They got to the first floor and were fast approaching the front door. Alex's hand fell on the handle, and he pushed the glass outwards, feeling the cool breeze rush onto his face. He spotted the mini cooper near the end of the parking lot, and he began to speed up, Tom fast on his heels. There was a group of people crowded around his dark blue Mustang, looking anxious and eager at the same time, and he swerved to avoid them. Almost there, almost –

Tom tripped over the curb, crying out as his arms flailed. Then he pitched forward, hitting Alex in the back and sending them both to the ground. Alex's hood was pushed back to reveal his light hair as he lied there, temporarily winded. His vision spun in front of him, and it took him a minute to register all the feet currently booking it towards them. Then he felt someone grab his arms and hoist him up, along with Tom. He looked into the concerned face of James dazedly.

"We failed," Alex said sadly. Tom nodded, eyes closed in resignation. James' forehead creased in worry at the strange words.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked them. Alex watched in dismay as the door of the mini cooper opened and Sabina emerged, approaching them fast. He quickly pulled himself away from James, rubbing his forehead where a bruise was beginning to form. When the group noticed Alex's gaze was on something behind them, they turned in time to see the gorgeous dark-haired woman rush up to them, her face alarmed.

"You alright?" She asked. He sent her a pathetic look, earning him a bright laugh. The crowd watched the exchange with something akin to awe.

"That was hilarious," she informed him. "You were always one for dramatic entrances."

"It was Tom's fault," he replied with a straight face, pointing at his dark-haired friend, who had yet to take his eyes off of Sabina. Alex had told him about her, but still – why did stupid Alex always get the good ones?

A second later it registered that Alex was blaming it on him, and he opened his mouth to object before pausing, and closing it. Then he said, "Actually, yeah. I tripped and landed on him." He sent her a charming smile, and she returned the gesture, her face full of poorly disguised amusement. Alex was looking embarrassed now that the attention had shifted away from him.

"Tom – Alex was telling me about you today. It's nice to meet you." He grinned as the others stared on, before suddenly a girl pushed herself forward.

"And just who are you?" She asked slowly, as if speaking to a small child. Sabina raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"I'm Sabina, Alex's… friend," she glanced over at the blonde, and they shared a secret look. The pause told the group all they needed to know about the unclassified relationship the two had going.

"I've never seen you here before," the girl said again, trying to look intimidating. She failed.

Sabina shrugged and hid a smirk, clandestinely enjoying the would-be roast. "I don't go to high school."

"So what, you drop out or something?" She asked with a sneer. Some of the guys from Alex's football team gave her bewildered looks. "Emily, chill," one of the guys murmured. She crossed her arms in response, refusing to look away from Sabina. Sabina nearly scoffed.

"No, I graduated. It happens," she told the girl. Alex took control of the situation before the girl could respond, saying exasperatedly,

"Jeez – alright, alright. Emily, calm down. Guys, this is Sabina. She's an old acquaintance of mine," there it was again – that quick, barely discernable glance that they exchanged – but before anyone could identify it, it was gone. "We go way back."

"Wimbledon," Sabina piped up, "among other places. South of France – good times, huh Alex?"

Alex shot her a scandalized grin. She was enjoying this a little too much. However, he played along, simply because she seemed to be having a good time. "You forgot about Amsterdam,"

"Not as good times," she responded gravely. He nodded.

"Oh – Air Force one! Almost forgot about that one," he finished with a smile. It was her turn to give him the scandalized look.

"Have I said too much?" He stage-whispered. She nudged him playfully, and they laughed while the rest watched them carefully. They'd never seen Alex act like _this_ with a girl before. Although it was usually different – he'd only ever gotten serious with two other girls before, and both of them fawned over him while he seemed to almost be humoring the whole time, smiling as if there was some silent inside joke going on that none of them understood. This time, however, the inside joke was shared – and with this strange, older girl, too. This was… different. There was simply no other word for it.

"Anyways, we gotta get going," Alex told them as he pulled the hoodie off his back, his shirt riding up and giving Sabina a view of the impressive six-pack the teen had going on. She bit her lip to keep from smiling as he handed over the piece of clothing to Tom, who whispered something to Alex before pulling away. Alex rolled his eyes and nodded anyway, making Tom look pleased. Then he turned to Sabina.

"Ready?"

"When you are," she replied, and the two waved before walking over to her mini cooper. Alex could always get a ride to school tomorrow and take his car home then. They both got into the car, mindful of the mildly stunned gazes following them before they pulled out. Sabina slipped on a pair of aviators as she looked over at Alex.

"So what was that, pray tell?" She asked him. His face fell into his hands.

"Ugh, I was hoping to keep that quiet. See, at school, I kind of have a… sort of…"

"Yes…?"

"I wouldn't say fan club, exactly…"

Sabina was quiet for a moment, and Alex couldn't read her eyes because of her sunglasses. However, he didn't need to because seconds after the awkward pause, Sabina burst out laughing. They had stopped at a light, thankfully, because soon the woman was pushing up the aviators to push the tears from the corners of her eyes. Alex moaned into his hands.

"Shut _up, Sab!"_ He whined, and the car took off after the light turned green, turning right as they began to head down a hill. Alex finally glanced up from his hands, realized that he had no clue that the plan was.

"Hey – so where are we going, anyway?" He asked loudly, while Sabina stifled her giggles. She glanced over at him before grinning, telling him happily,

"The beach!"

* * *

o0o0o0o

Sorry for the crappiness of the last part of this chapter ;-; it was kind of forced, to be honest. Woo for Wolf POV~ I don't know why, but the first half of this chapter just sort of… came out in his point of view. I seriously can't explain it.

Fun fact: while I was writing the dream scene with Wolf running through the hallways in the building, the song _Run Run Run_ by Phoenix came on my iPod :P Irony, good stuff. Ah, also: I don't know if there's a beach in Cornwall, and I don't want to look it up because then I might find out that there isn't, so for now, just go with it :)

Please review! I try to update after I've gotten twenty reviews. That's all I ask for. Twenty. It's not too much for big long chapters, is it? Just one review from twenty readers? I know I get more readers than twenty, so if each of you just gave me one teeny review each I know I'd get about fifty rather than my average of about fifteen.

Special thanks to **FireFriday **for claiming the 200th review! You made my day :)

Next chapter: Alex and Sabina. Sabina and Alex. Joy!


	12. Baby Steps

"_Hey – so where are we going, anyway?" He asked loudly, while Sabina stifled her giggles. She glanced over at him before grinning, telling him happily,_

"_The beach!"_

* * *

Chapter 12

**Baby Steps**

"It's March."

"Your point being?"

"It's cold!"

Alex and Sabina were getting out of the car, and in response to Alex's statement, Sabina looked up at the sky. It had to be one of the warmest days they'd gotten since twenty-ten started, and the sun was high in the sky while birds circled high among the sparse clouds. Alex looked down at his feet, where sand covered most of the road. They'd pulled up at Trevaunace Cove, one of his favorite beaches for surfing. However, although the waves were present, the water had to be _cold. _The day itself brought warm breezes and serious sun, however.

"…alright, so maybe it's not cold, but still – how many people do you see here today?"

"Who _cares, _Alex? We're here, aren't we?"

He smiled at the justification. That was so like her.

Following the dark haired girl as she stepped up on top of a beach log to hop onto the sandy beach, he loosened the tie around his neck before removing it completely, shoving it in the back pocket of his pants. Taking a good look at her now, he found she was wearing white shorts and a black tank top today, with a braided belt. And wow, did those shorts fit well–

Alex tripped over a piece of drift wood and stumbled a little, catching himself before he fell. He looked up, and upon seeing she was turned towards the view and not on his great performance there, he felt relief flood his being before jogging to catch up. _I should really work on _not_ blatantly checking her out._

Sabina let out a low whistle. "It's gorgeous out, what are _you _talking about?"

Alex smiled, knowing the question was rhetorical. Leaning back on his heels, he asked on impulse,

"Do you feel like ice cream?"

Sabina turned to look at him, and the simple joy in her eyes at the mention of the delicacy brought on an even brighter smile to his face.

"I don't know, Alex. Is it possible to _not_ feel like ice cream?" Sarcasm – it wouldn't be a date with Alex without it. He pointed towards the pier that stretched out into the water not far from where they stood in front of the parking lot, telling her,

"There's a great place near there called Monica's I always go to when I'm here."

"Sounds good to me."

The two moved back up the beach, stepping onto the sidewalk, which was lined with trees before they broke off so as not to block the first building that came into view along the boardwalk – a restaurant that was way too expensive to last long. Sabina was curiously looking at all the shops they passed, but Alex was more concentrated on what he should be doing – should he grab her hand, or would she laugh at him? She kept giving him these teasing grins, and her cornflower blue eyes were wide and playful – could he get away with an arm around the waist? He felt dizzy, just trying to figure out what he should do next.

_This is sad,_ he thought wistfully, _I'm usually so good with girls. _It was true, actually; Alex could make any date end in a kiss, first or not. He had a natural charm and wit that made these things laughably easy – and though half the time he was just going with things, doing whatever came to him in the moment, he'd earned a reputation at school as a lady killer for a damn good reason. Fox was constantly complaining about it, and yet Sabina had just come along and completely trashed his confidence.

_But Sabina's not a girl, is she?_ His inner voice answered him, _she's a woman._

_It's not that,_ he mentally argued back, _I… don't know what it is. She seems so casual, and – she's making my head spin, and now I have no clue where to go with this! I just wanna kiss her! Damn it!_

"Alex," Sabina asked, and he stopped to look at her. She pointed up at the sign of the place they'd just passed.

"Is that the Monica's you're talking about?"

Alex turned to look, before realizing with a start that it was, and in his thoughts they'd passed it completely. Laughing nervously, he rubbed the back of his head and nodded.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," he admitted. Sabina glanced at him.

"So uncool," she stated with a sly look, and he growled, reaching out to snatch her wrists and pull her forward. Then, finally giving into to what he'd wanted to do since they'd arrived at the beach, he leaned in until they could taste each other's breath and whispered,

"You'd better be nice to me, or I won't pay for your ice cream."

"Well wouldn't that be tragic," she mumbled back with a beam. Biting her lip to cover it up, she pulled one hand free before using it to sling around his neck and gently pull him closer, so their lips finally met. The two leaned against the wall outside the ice cream place, testing the waters; before someone's haphazard call of "get a room" broke them apart. Sabina smiled against Alex's cheek, and then they disappeared into the ice cream place, the tension seemingly gone. _And in the end, she had to initiate that kiss. Alex, pull it together!_ He mentally berated himself.

The two of them were staring down at the flavors in awe. Sabina placed a finger on her pink lips, looking as though she was thinking very deeply, before slowly pointing at a flavor that read _Caribou Caramel._

"Mmm, that one," she said, "in a cone, please. Alex?"

"Moose Tracks." He stated, having ordered the flavor many times in the past. Sabina giggled.

"Caribou Caramel and Moose Tracks match," she stated at his questioning glance, and Alex had to roll his eyes.

"You _would_ laugh at that," he said with a mock sigh. She elbowed him lightly.

"Shut up and pay!" She instructed, and he dodged another light strike with a grin, leaning over the counter to hand the girl behind it a ten dollar bill he'd pulled from his pocket. They exited the ice cream parlor, and Alex subtly pulled Sabina's hand into his own. Sabina looked at him from the corner of her eye, holding back another smile. _He's so cute, it's not even funny._

They were walking up the pier, quietly talking about their current life. Alex had brought up the topic of college, and had Sabina explaining about her career.

"I'm majoring in journalism," she told him simply, nibbling at her ice cream cone, "like my dad."

"How's he doing, anyway?" Alex asked. Mr. Pleasure had been injured in an explosion the last time Alex had talked to him. Thinking it had been his fault had been one of the worst feelings he'd ever felt – the idea of taking Sabina's father away from her was one that had brought him many sleepless nights until he'd learned that the man had recovered.

"He's doing good, same with mom. They're still in America, but they paid for most of my tuition."

"So you're liking college?" Alex asked.

"Oh yeah, it's great. High school parties don't even _compare_ to the college ones. You're gonna love it, Alex."

This was where Alex fell silent. Upon not receiving a response, Sabina titled her head so she could get a better look at him.

"Hey… Alex? You _are_ going to college, right?"

Alex was gazing down at his feet as they neared the end of the pier. "Uh, no."

She stopped. "What? Why?"

"Well, I kind of have other priorities, if you catch my drift."

Sabina seemed a little paler when he looked up to inspect her expression. "Oh God, you don't mean…"

"Yeah. That."

"So you're sticking with it, huh?"

She didn't sound angry. She didn't even sound sad. She just sounded… he didn't know. She sounded like she was sort of expecting that answer – although from her face, he could tell she'd been hoping against it.

"It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it," he quoted, beginning to walk with her again.

"But why do _you_ have to do it?" she complained, "You could be a doctor, or a lawyer – if you really wanna do this, you could become a cop–"

"Sab," he stopped her, and they shared a look in which an understanding was formed. Finally, she looked back at her feet.

"Well that sucks," she stated bluntly, and he laughed.

"I don't know. It's not so bad. I get to travel the world for free – the pay's awesome – plus, it makes me a certified bad ass."

Sabina laughed too, even if it was still a little less enthusiastic than before, and they stopped at the end of the dock to look over the water. The sun glinted off Sabina's long black hair, which was curled today – she had gotten _so_ pretty. It made him wonder how he'd managed to catch her single, but that brought with it the image of Sabina and some other faceless guy. Irrational anger seeped from that thought, so he pushed the needless jealousy aside. _What the hell am I getting worked up about? _I'm_ that guy!_

"It'd be so nice to go swimming," she mused aloud, as the clouds drifted through the sky. Alex peered at her.

"You would want to go swimming today?"

"Of course!" She insisted, still watching the water.

"The water's probably really cold." He stated, leaning over the railing with his eyes trained on hers.

"I don't care." She sounded like she meant it, too.

"Alright…" Alex said as he backed up, drawing the attention of a few other onlookers, "if you say so."

Then he jumped forward, one arm slipping around her waist as he used the other one to grip the side of the rail, hoisting the two of them over the side. Sabina shrieked as they went into a freefall before they hit the water, bubbles exploding as they came up to the surface, Sabina gasping as her sopping hair hung in her eyes. She spun in the water in order to cling onto Alex, who was struggling to swim and laugh at the same time upon seeing her reaction.

"Oh my God, _Alex! How could you!"_ She said, but her voice was full of mirth as goose bumps arose on her skin. She splashed around, still latched onto the seventeen-year-old as she attempted to push her hair back with her free hand.

"How could I _not?"_ He scoffed. "You were the one talking tough about swimming in March."

"_Alex…!"_ She moaned, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled them over to the dock that attached to the pier by a ramp. Helping her climb up, he then grabbed the edge in order to pull himself over the edge and onto the wood. Sabina had her arms crossed, and after a stern look from her, she threw her arms forward and pushed him off the dock, sending him into the water all over again He emerged from the water, shaking the water from his hair with a pitiful expression.

"Aww," he complained, "that was uncalled for."

"_That_ was uncalled for?" She asked incredulously, but in the end just shook her head. He climbed back up over the edge again, spitting out seawater as Sabina laughed.

"Well, this is great," she stated, pulling at her loose top as it dripped onto the wood, "now we're both soaking wet and we don't have a change of clothes."

Alex unbuttoned his shirt before pulling off the wet material and wringing it out over the water. Good thing it was sunny – he was already feeling a little warmer than before. Sabina had her arms wrapped around her, teeth chattering animatedly. He moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in order to pull her against his side, saying happily,

"Oh well, you can borrow something at my house. Let's go see how good old K-unit's doing – by the way, you haven't actually met them, have you?"

"Not _officially,"_ she said, "I mean, we sort of met last time in the park, but there were no introductions or anything."

Alex grinned wider. "Then I guess today's your unlucky day."

O0o0o0o

* * *

The door opened as the two sodden teens stepped inside, looking around. They could hear the TV from the other room as well as voices, so they wandered in further, Alex poking his head around the corner.

"Hey guys; Sabina's here."

Sabina's hands wrapped around the doorframe as she stole a glance at the group, smiling friendlily. She gave a short wave.

"Hi," same the shy intro. Sadie was also present, her blonde hair in its straight state contrasting to Sabina's wavy, drenched dark locks. Being the only person who had no clue who Sabina was, she returned the gesture.

"Hi there, I'm Sadie," she introduced herself. "Oliver's girlfriend."

Eagle offered a broad smile. "Sabina, how are – wait, why are you both soaking wet?"

Alex laughed along with Sabina, who poked Alex in the chest. "This guy thought it would be _funny_ to throw both of us off the pier!" she accused, though it showed clear in her eyes her _real_ opinion on the experience.

"It was funny," he defended himself, "you want me to grab you a towel?"

"Please," she said dryly. Alex turned around and began to head upstairs to the bathroom while Sabina waited in the doorway, not wanting to get anything wet. Eagle decided to go along and introduce everyone.

"Hi, I'm Oliver – or Eagle," he added as an afterthought, "they all call me Eagle, if you're wondering who the hell they're talking about when they call me that."

Sabina nodded, laughing a little at the messy intro. He pointed at Fox. "That's Ben-slash-Fox, and Snake – I mean Jacob," he corrected, rubbing his face while Sadie raised an eyebrow at him.

"Having a hard time remembering your friends' names?" she asked him, "Ollie, you're getting old."

"Twenty-five is _not_ old!" He whined. Wolf sat on the couch, holding a glass of water, and Sabina focused on him as he was the only one who had yet to be introduced. Eagle followed her gaze before realizing the mistake. Clearing his throat, he finished,

"And that's Wolf. Luke! Dammit!"

"Loser!"

"Shut up Fox!"

"Wolf," Sabina repeated, drawing the man's attention over to herself. She had to admit, he had quite the presence – he was intimidating in the least, with the dark hair and eyes, and the obviously strong build. "Alex talks about you a lot."

K-unit looked surprised. "Does he now?"

"Well, more like complains about you a lot," she corrected, and the group relaxed.

"See, that makes a little more sense," Snake said reasonably just as Alex appeared around the corner holding a towel in one hand while using the other to run one over his hair.

"Here," he said as he placed it in her hands, and Sabina wiped off her face and arms before turning back to Alex.

"Mind if I take a shower?"

"Sure," Alex said, "come on, I'll take you to my room. You can borrow something to change into afterwards, too."

After Alex had shown Sabina upstairs, he came back down and without regards to his own soaked state dropped onto the couch next to Snake and Wolf, drawing an annoyed look from the latter.

"Oi, change into something dry before sitting on my couch!" Wolf barked, but he was promptly ignored. Eagle was inspecting Alex carefully, although he said nothing. Fox had a sly look on his face.

"Hot soaking girl in the house," he stated needlessly. Sadie whacked him over the head from where she was sitting with Eagle. Alex shook his head.

"So she wasn't even mad when you threw her in the water?" The blonde asked him. "You have some charm, Alex."

Alex rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. "It had nothing to do with me. She's just…"

"That cool?" Fox finished for him, crossing his arms. Alex nodded, a grin lighting up his features. It was different from his usual cocky, joking ones though. Snake had a cautious expression on when he asked,

"So what happened to it being too dangerous?"

Alex sobered up a little at this reminder, looking down at his feet as his hands came up to rub his face. He looked tenser now, and Snake felt bad for bringing down his good mood. "I… well, it's a little late to worry about that now, right? She's already here."

"So you're gonna let her stick around?" Fox asked.

"Is there any other option?" He asked bemusedly, eyes wistful. "Besides, maybe… maybe we could make it work."

K-unit was looking at Alex, their eyes a little sad. It shouldn't be a matter of life or death just for a teenager to spend some time with the girl he liked. Even while saying it, all of Alex's insecurities seeped out of his face. He was still nervous about this.

"That's the spirit!" Eagle said loudly, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. Alex looked relieved at the reprieve before speaking up again.

"So. Anyone hungry?" There was a loud chorus of yeses, in which even Wolf had contributed too. Alex got up, finally realizing he had yet to put on a shirt or dry pants, so he hurried upstairs and to change. He also failed to notice the missing sound of the shower, so when his hand fell on his bedroom doorknob to turn it and push the thing open, he didn't think twice about walking in.

Sabina squeaked, whirling around immediately. She had just pulled on a loose pair of drawstring pajama pants when the door had suddenly swung open, and they'd exchanged bewildered looks before both spun around, faces warming.

"I – I'm sorry," Alex hastily told her, facing the closet across from his room as he stumbled over words, "I thought you were still in the shower and so I just walked in because I'd forgotten to change earlier, and don't worry, I didn't see anything–"

During his panicked rambling, Sabina had pulled a large T-shirt over her head before approaching him, tapping him lightly on the back. He turned around, taking in her now covered appearance, and was surprised to see a coy smile on her face.

"Better you than Ben."

Alex choked, beginning to cough as Sabina rubbed his back in mock-sympathy. When he'd recovered, he began towards his wardrobe when Sabina's voice reaching him again, and he could practically hear her pouting.

"Aw, do you _have_ to put on a shirt?"

Alex turned around slowly, staring at her. Her wide eyes conveyed perfect innocence. After a moment, he closed his eyes and shook his head, muttering quietly, "What the hell did I do to deserve a girl like you?"

"I hope that's a good 'what the hell did I do to deserve a girl like you'," Sabina chimed in.

"Trust me, it is," Alex told her as he slipped on a shirt.

"In that case, saving the world those times might have done a thing or two for your karma."

"Maybe."

"Saving the _world?"_

The two turned around to see Wolf standing lazily in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his toned arms crossed across his chest. "I think that's an overstatement."

"You're just jealous," Alex waved back, moving towards the doorway.

"How did you know?" Wolf asked, "I thought I hid it so well."

"Taking a leaf out of Alex's book, I see," Sabina stated as she passed the man, heading towards the stairs with Alex, "sarcasm just doesn't suit you, Luke."

"What are you talking about? Sarcasm does so suit me." Wolf defended, following the two. Alex grinned crookedly.

"He wasn't _being_ sarcastic, Sab."

"Ah." The dark-haired woman gave a sage nod. Wolf growled as he placed his hands on both of their hands and shoved, making them stumbled down the last couple of stairs before telling them gruffly, "The guys had sent me up to tell you to hurry up, Cub."

"Hurry up?" Alex repeated, perplexed.

"We're hungry." He told him flatly. They moved into the living room, where the heads of K-unit's three other members swiveled to look at him, eyes large and expectant.

"Just like baby birds," Sabina murmured. Alex placed a hand over his mouth and turned around in order to cover up his laughter, moving around the island and into the kitchen to begin preparing the meal. Sabina sat down at the table a couple feet away.

"I'd offer to help, but anything I cook either turns into sludge or rubble."

"You and everyone else in this house," Alex sighed, pulling out a knife and spinning it in his fingers before placing it in position to begin cutting the garlic cloves. Sabina watched him with interest, letting her chin rest in his palm as she mused aloud,

"I never knew you could cook."

Alex glanced at her. "Oh, I couldn't. But Jack started teaching me when I was fifteen, and I've helped every night since then. It's… really fun, I guess."

"You should be a chef," she suggested, making Alex pause. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking tense.

"You know I can't."

Sabina's eyes hit her feet.

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

He returned to his cooking. Placing the ground beef in a metal bowl, he moved to the fridge and opened the egg carton to retract a single egg, cracking it over the metal edge. Sabina stood up and took the egg shell before he could touch it again however, turning around and opening the trash. At his look, she shrugged and told him simply,

"Hey, I may not be able to cook, but there isn't anyone who can't get throwing an egg shell in the garbage right." She was just about to drop it when Fox walked into the kitchen, bumping her shoulder as she let it go. As a result of this, the egg shell fell to the ground and broke under Alex's misplaced foot. Fox looked down at the egg shell with a shake of his head.

"Keep track of these things, Cub."

Sabina hung her head.

"… Except me," she finished. Fox, having just arrived, looked around confusedly before giving up.

"Anyways," he said pointedly, "Eagle sent me in here to ask how much longer, and Sadie forced me to offer my help."

"You can cook too?" Sabina asked. Alex snorted, but tried to turn away and pretend nothing happened when Fox spun around to face him.

"… I was the resident chef before Cub came along and stole my job." He explained. While Alex grabbed the patties he'd formed and brought them outside on a plate to the barbecue, Sabina turned to Fox.

"So, why do you call him Cub, anyway? Doesn't seem like much of a cub to me."

Fox wiped away an imaginary tear. "Not anymore. It was his codename back at Brecons Beacons – same with how I'm Fox, Oliver's Eagle, Luke's Wolf and Jacob's Snake. I guess it's just easier this way… we're used to having to use the codenames, anyway."

"Even for Alex?" She asked, looking taken aback. Fox waved her off, however.

"Nah, 's been years since I had to use Cub's codename for work." Sabina almost laughed at the way he called espionage "work" – the same way she called her part time job at the café work, even though they were two very different things. "We haven't worked together since Australia, and boy, was _that_ a disaster."

Sabina looked painfully curious, her wide blue eyes staring up at him in obvious interest. She didn't want to put her nose where it didn't belong, so she managed to convince herself not to ask… for about six seconds.

After the pause, Sabina finally gave in and asked. "What happened in Australia?"

Fox had seemed to have become lost in his thoughts, but her question tore him away from his musings. He looked back at her.

"Huh? Oh – it was a mission codenamed Snakehead. Alex was undercover, working with some other guy."

Sabina's fingers curled around the edge of the granite counter tops. The way Fox has said that sounded a little odd to her ears. She pressed on. "Some other guy? What happened to him?"

"Ah, well… he turned out to be a double agent. Working against us the whole time."

"That doesn't really answer the question, though."

"He – uh…" Fox looked a little uncomfortable. The truth was he'd shot him, but he didn't want the woman to get the impression that he was some kind of coldhearted killer or something. Sabina leaned in, hungry for as many answers she could get while Alex was away. Fox rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, you see… that is–"

Alex appeared around the corner at that moment, regarding Fox sourly. "Oh, you're still here?"

Fox seemed relieved at Alex's return, while Sabina looked disappointed at the interruption. She perked up after a couple seconds now that she was back in Alex's presence, however.

"So how long till dinner?"

O0o0o0o

* * *

"So you were pretty good back there. I guess that's as close as you're gonna get to meeting my folks," Alex joked. He winced a little at the sharp pain at the back of his head, but then felt smooth fingers run over the spot in apology.

"Sorry," she murmured, "yeah, I guess you're right there. And thanks,"

Alex sat cross-legged on his bad, with Sabina on her knees behind him, her fingers running through his hair as she braided the fair tresses. It wasn't long enough to get more than an inch of braid in before it fell apart, but it gave her something to do while they talked. Plus, it felt _so_ good.

"So, Oliver told me about that thing from last week," she said vaguely, tipping her head to the side in order to get a better look at the tiny braid she was currently working on. Alex twisted around just enough to give her a dry look, and she elaborated,

"Your little issue with thunder storms – still got that, have you?"

Alex sighed, rubbing his face. "Oh God, don't even bring it up. It's so embarrassing."

"Hey!" She gave him a light chop on the back of the neck, "it's not that bad. No worse than Wolf's fear of heights."

"When you put it that way," he smiled, turning and catching her face with his hands and closing in. He stopped when they were just brushing noses, whispering quietly,

"I just… wanna kiss you," he finished with a wide grin, and she pulled back with one of her own, looking scandalized.

"And after all that stuff about not wanting to see me… you finally admit it." Alex rubbed the back of his head, messing up all the braids that had before tangled there, looking half confused, half eager and half… was that fear?

"We… barely even know each other anymore, Sab," he said to her, "but it feels like the opposite. What's up with that?"

"I dunno," she breathed, eyes wild as she leaned forward, "but I kinda like it."

"Me too." He instantly responded, and then they were kissing just like they'd been outside of the ice cream place, Alex's warm hands finding themselves placed on her lower back. Sabina had thrown her arms over his shoulders and had her hands furled into the fabric of his shirt – which drew his eyes onto the one she was wearing.

"You're wearing my shirt," he mumbled against her lips, and she pulled back a little bit to look at him, clearly amused.

"Good observation, Sherlock. You watched me put it on, remember?"

"Oh, man, don't do this to me," he moaned, "I wish. I mean – I'm sorry… that's just so… _hot."_

"Teenagers," she sighed, "I like this shirt. You went bungee jumping?"

"Jack and I went," he explained, eying the logo on the fabric. "For my sixteenth birthday."

"I've always wanted to do that," she said wistfully.

"It's overrated, don't worry. You gotta climb these stairs from the bottom of the canyon, and… why are we talking about this again?"

"You tell me," she answered, and they had just barely brushed lips again when the door opened and Wolf walked in.

"Hey Cub, the burgers are – oh, shit – sorry–"

Alex turned to the door, running a hand through his hair. "I'd think you'd have learned your lesson with this last time." Sabina was finding her knees incredibly interesting, judging by the way they were glued to them. Wolf put his hands in the air, backing out of the room quietly before pulling the door closed behind him.

"I should really learn to knock," he muttered before trudging back down the stairs. When K-unit plus Sadie looked up at him from where they were preparing their burgers, Wolf shrugged.

"So… those two seem to have hit it off okay."

"Have they?" Fox grinned. "That's good. I'm guess you walked in on them making out?"

"Just about."

A couple minutes later the teenagers appeared in the kitchen, and then everyone was sitting down at the table outside, since nice weather had decided to grace them this evening. They talked about Sadie's latest case against a property developer trying to tear up a wildlife preserve for new condos, Sabina's coursework as a journalism major, and Eagle's new fascination with pickles. Sadie had detailed on how he'd gone through three jars just this week, until finally she refused to buy any more, claiming he had a problem.

"I know a friend who had that same addiction," Snake said sagely, "but he got help at Pickles Anonymous. I know it feels weird in the beginning, but I really think this could be good for you…"

Eagle whacked the guy on the arm while Snake grinned, and Fox turned to Alex curiously.

"Is there really a Pickles Anonymous?"

Alex nodded gravely. Just then, his phone began ringing, and the group looked over at where he was sitting. The room was filled with the blare of _Party in the USA, _while Alex looked down at his pocket, face steadily growing warmer. After the initial shock passed by, he scrambled to grab his phone and flip it open, telling the group hastily,

"That was – Tom, see, he – he likes to mess with my phone," he explained before turning away and mumbling into the speaker,

"Hello?"

"Alex. This is Tulip Jones."

"Oh, hey Mrs. Jones…" Alex felt his stomach turn over as it usually did whenever he heard the woman's voice – good news rarely accompanied her calls, as it was, so habit had lead him to dread them. The group immediately went deathly silent in order to better hear the conversation.

"I'm just calling to alert you that we've nearly got everything settled down here, and that you should be able to return to your home within a few days. Mrs. Starbright has been scheduled a flight to return tomorrow."

"Really? That's great," he replied. He was beginning to really miss Jack through all this, as much as he liked K-unit – which, he realized with a slight jolt, was quite a bit. They were all really great, even Sadie and – dare he say – Tammy.

"I – but wait," he paused, before she hung up, "what do you mean 'nearly'?"

"Oh, that," she said quietly, "well, most of the organizations have been neutralized, but we've still got a couple kinks to work out. It should be safe for you to go home now, though, so no worries."

"Most of them? A couple kinks? It _should_ be safe? Who do you think you're talking to, Mrs. Jones?"

He could hear her sigh on the other line. "I should've realized you wouldn't have been satisfied. We're doing our best over here, Alex."

Alex moved into the other room now, closing the door behind him so that K-unit wouldn't hear what they were saying. "Well then why are you bringing Jack back before you _know_ it's safe? Of all the people, Mrs. Jones, I wouldn't think Blunt one to be satisfied with almost's and mostly's."

"Look, it's more complicated than that. You've got a lot of enemies, Alex."

"I'm aware of that," he snapped, before running a hand through his hair. He paused, taking a deep breath and muttering, "Sorry. Anyways, it's not myself I'm worried about here. It's Jack.

"I _know, _Alex. It's just that…"

"Stop trying to keep things from me," he hissed, "haven't the past couple years taught you guys _anything?_ Just tell me the damn truth."

"… As you wish. The trouble is… see, the last group refusing our demands – Capricorn – they have friends in America. And they know about Mrs. Starbright's location."

"_What?"_ He burst out, hand clenching around the phone. Realized he'd risen his voice, he lowered it back to a whisper, "_are you telling me she's stayingwith her parents in another country, completely unprotected, and they know where she _lives?"

"This is why we didn't want to tell you," she said crisply, "Alex, you've got to calm down."

"Don't tell me to _calm down._ This is Jack we're talking about!"

"As I said before, we're doing our best! As it is right now, we've decided she's safer in Chelsea where we can keep an eye on her. We're going to strengthen the security measures on your home, and the threat they pose should be nonexistent in under a week."

"A lot can happen in a week, Mrs. Jones. A lot. And I suppose you expect me to take your word for it?"

"What do you expect us to do, Alex?"

"I–" He rubbed his jaw. "I don't know. I'm not head of MI6, am I? Blunt is. What time is Jack due in the airport?"

"Two p.m. tomorrow," Mrs. Jones replied.

"Figure something out before then, or I'm gone."

"Alex…"

"Good night, Mrs. Jones."

O0o0o0o

* * *

Sorry about taking so long to update this time around! Well… I know I am over a week and a half late to my update schedule. The truth is, I got a bunch done last month, and then my computer was in the shop for two weeks. Right when I got it back, I went on vacation for another two weeks, and then during the week and a half since I got back, I was laid off from my job, and then it was my birthday. Also, last Sunday, my internet went down and it's not being fixed till Friday… which is why I am currently updating from outside my neighbors house, whose internet I… am stealing. Hope he doesn't catch me!

Thanks for the reviews everyone. Please keep it up! :D

**Edit**: Oh, man, so many mistakes that I went back and cleaned up the chapter. Forgive me! x.x

**Next chapter: **Airports, Americans, and MI6 return. Oh my.


	13. Precautions

"_What time is Jack due in the airport?"_

"_Two p.m. tomorrow," Mrs. Jones replied._

"_Figure something out before then, or I'm gone."_

"_Alex…"_

"_Good night, Mrs. Jones."

* * *

_

Chapter 13**  
Precautions**

When Alex hung up the phone, he had already begun planning his next move before he moved back into the kitchen, where the assembled group was still sitting. Sabina was looking up at him fearfully, while the rest of K-unit had grave expressions on their faces. Sadie looked confused.

"Who was that?" The blonde asked him, sipping on her glass of water and glancing around the table a little nervously. Alex sat down in his chair, replying tiredly,

"My… friend. She was calling to tell me that my housekeeper is returning from America tomorrow, and I'll be going home."

"That's… good?" The statement was phrased like a question on account of Alex's expression, which was anything but thrilled. It was then that Eagle took charge, slowly standing up and looking at his girlfriend.

"Sadie, what time is it?"

Sadie glanced down at her watch, responding quietly,

"Oh, eight-thirty-seven… I should get home; I have to be up early tomorrow. Ollie, you coming too, or are you gonna kick it here?"

"I'm gonna stay, but go ahead and take the car," he said. She nodded, kissing him lightly on the cheek before waving to everyone.

"Bye guys," she threw over her shoulder before disappearing out the door. Sabina watched her leave with narrowed eyes.

"I'm guessing I'm next?" She asked, tearing her eyes away from the empty doorway in order to look at Alex.

"… No, you can stay." The blonde agitatedly ran a hand through his hair, locking eyes with the dark-haired woman. K-unit all turned to look at him urgently, but he waved them off.

"She should hear this."

"If you say so," Snake muttered. "So what'd she say?"

"Well," Alex said, "before I explain anything, I have to make a phone call."

"Can't it wait?" Wolf asked impatiently, but Alex shook his head before picking up his phone and sifting through the contacts. After a moment he pressed the call button and lifted it to his ear, while the group waited with baited breath for Alex to begin talking.

"Mr. Byrne? This is Alex Rider."

"Alex! Call me Joe, please."

"Joe," Alex corrected himself, "how have you been?"

"Well enough," He chuckled, "considering my day job. Though I imagine this call must be costing you a fortune, so shall we cut to the chase? I'm sure you didn't phone just to exchange pleasantries."

"Right on," Alex replied as Fox stared in awe at the phone in Alex's phone. Joe Byrne – as in head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Joe Byrne? CEO of the CIA? And Alex was on a _first name basis_ with the man?

"Anyways, you do remember my housekeeper, Jack Starbright?"

"Of course – she's been taking care of you since Ian died, hasn't she?"

"Yes. Anyway, she's currently staying with her parents in New York, and I've got a bit of a problem. On my last mission in Berlin, I pissed a couple terrorist organizations off, and I'm afraid those very same groups have friends in your country."

"Is that so? I think I know where you're going with this, Alex. Consider it done."

"I – really?" The relief was evident in his tone, "MI6 can't do much for her since she's out of the country, so I'd really appreciate if you could keep an eye on her."

"It's not a problem. After what you did for us back at Skeleton Key, this is the least I could do. The very least."

"Thanks, Mr. Byrnes."

"Joe, Alex, Joe!"

"Joe," he amended with a light laugh.

"Take it easy, Alex."

"You too." Alex hung up before turning back to the group. Out of the five, only Fox recognized the name, but that was enough. The dark-haired former operative was staring at Alex in open astonishment. In the next second he'd blurted out,

"How the hell do you know _Joe Byrne?"_

"I helped him out a couple years ago."

"Yeah, but – speed dial?"

"Got a problem with that, Fox?"

"Who the hell is Joe Byrne?" Wolf demanded, sick of standing around and not being able to follow the conversation. Snake, Eagle and Sabina had similarly impatient expressions on their faces. Fox turned his gaze onto the three.

"Joe Byrne is the head of the CIA – aka, the Central Intelligence Agency of America."

Nobody spoke for a minute before Eagle hesitantly asked the question they were all aching to. "And you have the guy's direct line in your phone?"

"He owed me a favor," Alex explained, feeling edgy with the questions. He was a sky, would they just get over the fact that he knew things he shouldn't? "It's not important. Anyway the point is, now Jack has someone to watch out for her until she comes back tomorrow. Who knows what can happen in the span of eighteen hours?"

The group shuffled their feet in response, unnerved by Alex's sudden change in attitude. Alex recognized this and rubbed his face, but pressed on anyway.

"Wolf, I have kind of a big favor to ask from you, too," he said. Wolf's head snapped up and the man's eyes instantly turned uneasy. The last favor Alex called in was for the head of the CIA to supervise his housekeeper – what could Alex possibly need him to do?

"What is it?" The man growled, dark eyes narrowed. Alex placed his own hands on the table, asking quietly,

"Well… MI6 want me to go home with Jack, but I think that's probably the worst thing I could do right now. I think a better course of action would be for me to pick up Jack tomorrow at the airport and… bring her back here."

"No." Wolf immediately said. Alex glared at him.

"Look Wolf, it's only until MI6 gets rid of the final threat. This place is loaded with extra security, not to mention that alarm system – and all the random but conveniently placed guns! There's a fully trained SAS team hanging out here twenty-four seven, as well – I can't think of a safer place for Jack to live right now."

"Where would she sleep?" Wolf asked, a hint of challenge in his dark eyes. Alex was ready for that question, though.

"In my room. I'll sleep on the couch."

"I don't think that's a bad idea, Wolf," Fox spoke up, "plus, Jack seems like a pretty cool chick."

"She is," Alex urged, clapping his hands together, "please do this for me? I just – I don't want anything to happen to her."

Alex put on his best puppy-dog face, brown eyes pleading for the man to say yes. At first, Wolf managed to keep the cool disposition, his arms crossed over his chest, but after a couple seconds he could see the man's control begin wear down. Eagle was the next to speak up for Alex.

"Cub is right. You should do this; it's not even a big deal."

"I already have one stranger living in my house, I don't need another."

"I'm _not_ a stranger," Alex snapped, looking angry and vaguely hurt.

"You're MI6," Wolf shot back callously, "I'm not about to trust you anytime soon."

Silence reigned at this statement, and for a second Alex looked as though he'd been struck – though a moment later he was looking away. He stood up abruptly.

"Oh," he swallowed, "sorry for asking, then."

He picked up the phone off the counter, preparing to make new plans to keep Jack safe when she came back. He left the room and then it was just Sabina, Snake, Fox and Eagle all looking at Wolf with a look that varied from anger to disappointment. Snake spoke first.

"Wow, Wolf, you really have a way with words."

"I," Wolf paused, rubbing his jaw before looking down at the table. "I… didn't mean to say that."

"Is it true?" Fox asked. That was the real question. Wolf massaged his face with both hands, resting his elbows on the table.

"Yes – I mean, no,"

"Which one is it?" Eagle demanded.

"I do trust him!" Wolf burst out, "I do – it's _them_ I don't trust."

"But Cub's different from them, you know that."

"Do I?" It was Wolf's turn to sound angry. "He barely tells us anything about himself, knows his way around a gun better than _I_ do, and has no good explanation for that. He goes on missions but he won't tell us a damn thing about it – he won't get into any real long-term relationships because he doesn't want the girl to be killed. He's got a bullet wound right over his _heart_ – oh, and that's right, he _is_ MI6. Excuse me if I don't completely trust the kid."

"Is that what this is about?" Sabina spoke up for the first time since Alex had left. "You don't trust him because he's not open enough for you?"

Wolf was looking uncomfortable. "Stay out of this, Sabina."

"Why should I? I know him better than you do, and we haven't seen each other in _years,_" Sabina said icily. "Haven't you been living with him for two weeks already? You should have learned by now Alex is just as trustworthy as any of you."

"But it's like you said, I don't really know him, do I?" Wolf threw her earlier words back in her face. Sabina let her chin rest in the palm of her hand, elbow clonking down on the table as she watched the dark-haired man.

"Why do you need to know every detail of his life to know he's trustworthy?" She asked him, "That's not what trust is about at all. And really, what does he know about _you?_"

"That's different. I don't openly try to hide things."

"His past doesn't matter," she retorted, "what matters if whether or not he's had your back this whole time. Think about it a minute, Luke. When has Alex ever – I mean _ever –_ let you down?"

And suddenly memories began filtering into Wolf's brain – Brecons Beacons, when Alex took the blame for failing the operation even though it was Wolf who'd kicked the kid back into a stun grenade. He hadn't turned him in then. Alex had kicked him out of a plane to save his career, despite the fact that they hated each other – or at least had every right to. Point Blanc, when the two fought off that crazy woman together, Alex hadn't ditched him as soon as he was free. He always cooked dinner for K-unit, even after the group had set him up with Sabina against his will, and he was pissed off at them. He'd helped Wolf avoid confrontation with Tammy time after time, and had his back when he finally decided to face the woman. And even though Wolf had punched the kid in the face for it, Alex hadn't even allowed him to suffer through one nightmare under his watch.

The fact of the matter was, Alex had _never _let him – or any of K-unit – down.

"You have no right to say that to him!" Sabina told angrily in response to his dawning silence, "Go upstairs and apologize."

"I'm not a child, Sabina," Wolf grumbled, knowing he'd lost the battle.

"Then quit acting like one." She countered coolly. The two seemed to share a brief battle of wills after that, dark brown locked with light blue, until finally it was Wolf who gave in first with a sigh. When he turned towards the door and the rest of K-unit caught a look at his face, they just managed to catch the glint of respect that had entered the dark depths before the man was gone.

The group listened without a word until his footsteps had faded away. Then they looked to the only present woman, expressions reflecting pure awe. Sabina shuffled anxiously under their stares – with the adrenaline rush gone, she was left feeling a little out of line. She'd only really met Wolf a couple hours earlier, she was in _his_ house, and she'd just gone off on him like a landmine right in front of the rest of the group. However, when Eagle spoke, it wasn't with what she expected to hear from him.

"That… was fucking awesome." He breathed, gaping up at her in wonder – much like the rest of K-unit was.

"Oh… really?" Sabina gave a weak laugh, "I really didn't plan on lecturing him the day I met him."

"It's okay," Fox amended, "someone needed to do it, and none of us could've put it better ourselves."

Sabina dropped down in the chair closest to her, looking suddenly tired. "Thanks."

* * *

o0o0o0o

Alex was sitting on his bed trying to think up a Plan B. If Wolf didn't trust him and had no intention of letting Jack into the house, then he'd just have to manage to fortify his own home before Capricorn had a chance to touch either of them. Installing an alarm could take a week, though, and he had no idea where he could get the guns. The idea of asking Wolf for a couple crossed briefly through his mind before it was instantly shot down. _No more asking him for help, _he thought briskly. Asking MI6 would be even worse.

However, after a couple minutes of thinking, Alex found he was quickly developing a headache. How could he possibly protect Jack and him from terrorists that even Britain's most incredible minds couldn't persuade off his demise? However, before he could get any farther with that train of thought a single knock hit the door and then it opened, Wolf standing in the doorway looking as though he'd give anything to be somewhere else at that moment.

"… Jack can stay here," he said after a minute of silence in which the two just stared at each other – Wolf looking uncomfortable (with –was that– no, it couldn't possibly be guilt…) and Alex bewildered.

"Really?" Alex sounded intensely relieved. Wolf scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah… and… I mean, what I said–"

"The trust thing? It's okay, I get that a lot," he was the picture of calm and casual – Sabina must really be able to read people if she could tell he felt anything over Wolf's earlier words. However, looking really closely, he could see a flicker of something in the teen's eyes that hadn't been there before – he couldn't identify it, but it was a step.

"No, Cub, I – I do trust you – with my _life_," he tried to explain. Alex's eyes widened as Wolf hastily explained,

"It's just that you keep so many damn secrets and all that – it's like there's all this stuff you won't tell us. That's what I don't like."

"So? It's the past. It doesn't matter."

"Sure about that?"

"Yes." Alex's response was instantaneous. The two stared at each other for a couple more seconds before Wolf looked away, muttering,

"Okay. I'll take your word for it, then."

Alex's eyes lit up – it was a direct contradiction of his earlier statement. Alex seemed to gain a lot more energy in the next second. "Thanks, Wolf."

"Yeah. Whatever," The man brushed it off, turning around and leaving. Alex followed behind him, smiling.

Screw MI6, he'd take care of Jack himself. And maybe K-unit might help a little, too.

* * *

o0o0o0o

"Boarding all passengers of flight 229; all passengers of flight 229 – currently boarding."

Alex stood anxiously on his tiptoes, trying to see over the crowd of people pouring out of the doorway. Jack's flight had just come in, but other than a man whose toupee had slipped off halfway, a woman dressed entirely in fur, and a teenager with rainbow hair and so many piercings it was a wonder she managed to get through customs, Alex saw nobody of interest.

"Didn't they say two p.m. today?" Eagle complained, "It's already two-thirty."

"She should be coming out any minute now," Alex reassured the man, but even his own brown eyes were anxious. K-unit had accompanied him in order to provide back-up should anything happen, but it was highly unlikely the group after him would pull something in a national airport. The security here was twice as good as Wolf's house.

Just then Alex spotted a flash of bright orange, and even with reflexes honed from evading danger for three years now, he didn't manage to dodge the American that flew at him in the next moment, tackling him and sending the two of them crashing to the floor.

"Alex, I missed you! How're you doing? How's Sabina?"

"Jack…" Alex groaned, grabbing the woman's shoulders and pushing her back enough so that he was sitting. Jack stood up, dusting herself off before sending him a bright grin.

"One of these days you're coming to America with me. So, has everything been worked out? Are we going home?"

"Not quite…" Alex told her, rubbing his head where he was sure a bump was planning on forming. Jack turned, just now noticing her audience. Alex smiled.

"Jack, meet K-unit."

Wolf was standing at the front, looking surprised that Jack had managed to take down Alex so effortlessly. Eagle was laughing, Fox was smirking and Snake extended a hand to Jack.

"Jacob McConnelly," he introduced himself with a friendly smile, and the woman returned the gesture, brushing her bright red hair behind her.

"Jack Starbright." She turned towards the other three as Alex picked himself up off the ground, watching the scene.

"Luke Novara," Wolf said gruffly. Jack grabbed his hand and shook it hard enough to jar the man, whose eyes widened at the gesture.

"Luke – so you're Wolf," she placed, "I've heard that one before. Alex complains about you a lot."

Eagle was howling when Fox stepped forward, his smile a little wider than need be. "Ben Daniels; pleased to meet you." Jack shook his head and then glanced over at Eagle, who had finally stopped laughing long enough to say,

"I'm Oliver Wishart." Jack nodded.

"So you called me," she said. Alex's eyebrows rose.

"You called her?" He asked the man, who gulped, fidgeting. He avoided the blonde's gaze determinedly, and with a fake laugh he replied,

"Of course not, Cub, stop talking crazy. Anyway, we should really get Jack's luggage, or someone might grab it."

They picked up Jack's things and moved into the front of the airport, where taxis were circling endlessly. Alex and Jack took his car while K-unit piled into Wolf's and then the group was off. Jack fiddled with the radio until it was set on a slightly fuzzy American radio station before asking carefully,

"Alex, when I asked you if we were going home, what did you mean by 'not quite'?"

Alex bit his lip, answering carefully, "Well, we're going to be staying with Wolf for a few more days – there's one persistent group that MI6 has just about finished getting out of the way, but until then I don't want to take any chances. Don't worry; he's rich." Jack laughed, and the two settled into an easy chatter of current events, catching up until they finally pulled into Wolf's driveway, who'd gotten there before them.

Jack followed Alex inside, looking around with wide eyes. She placed a finger along the table next to the door and dragged it to the end before lifting it up and looking at it – spotless. She peered over at Alex, who was looking a little embarrassed.

"I clean when I'm stressed," he explained. Jack looked up – the house was practically sparkling.

"I can't wait to hear about your two weeks," she responded dryly.

"Sure, sure. Anyway, you'll be sleeping upstairs," Alex hastily changed the subject, leaping up the stairs and opening the door to what was formerly his bedroom. He'd moved his stuff out and placed it in a closet downstairs near the living room, since that was where he was going to be sleeping.

"So… what do you think?" Jack looked over to Alex, who was looking nervous at her reaction. She gave a dazzling smile.

"It's great, Alex."

* * *

o0o0o0o

A week had passed since the group picked Jack up from the airport, and things were going smoothly enough. No terrorist attacks or anything similar – in fact, Alex was finding things to be going really smoothly. He and Sabina had gone out again, this time going out for dinner before seeing a movie – the perfect, classic date. Jack and Sadie had quickly taken to each other, talking about everything under the sun – they both seemed to have a lot of in common, despite different personalities. And Fox was hitting on Jack like no tomorrow, to which she responded with prompt and effortless rejection. If anything, this tactic only seemed to be making the dark-haired man even more persistent.

Alex was currently hanging out with Tom in the back yard of Wolf's house, passing a football back and forth between the two of them. Tom was grinning widely as he explained how he and Mia had decided to go steady – so Alex had kept his promise of getting Tom a girlfriend by the end of the week.

"And how about you?" Tom asked, "You and Sabina doing okay?"

"Yeah," he smiled, "it's been great, actually. She's so funny – we went out on Saturday, and I didn't think of MI6 even _once._ I mean sure, I was on the lookout for anyone suspicious – but I always am, so I don't really count that. If anything, I'd say I'd been a little _too _comfortable. Dangerously relaxed."

Tom sighed, pitching the football a little harder than necessary and watching passively as Alex caught it with a slight stumble. The blonde shot him a look before sending it back to him with a similar amount of force. The dark haired teen began to speak.

"You've got to get out of that mind frame, Alex. There's a name for that kind of feeling – it's called paranoia."

"It's only paranoia if there aren't actually assassins and terrorists on your tail," Alex quipped, twirling the football on his finger for a second before tossing it back. Tom rolled his eyes tiredly.

"I'm serious Alex, how are you supposed to properly enjoy the perks of finally having Sabina to yourself if you keep looking over your shoulder? I mean you can't possibly be checking for threats in bed, can you?"

Alex's eyes widened. "We haven't slept together."

Tom stared at him dumbly. After a moment, he said, "But you've been going out for a week. This has to be a new record for you, Alex."

Alex looked down at his feet, looking anxious. "Shut up, Tommy."

Tom looked affronted. "Don't you dare," he warned, crossing his arms, "and anyway, why _aren't_ you guys sleeping together?"

"Believe it or not, not everyone puts out right away, Tom."

"They do for you." Tom said smugly. Then he pretended to flip his hair out of his face, finishing off, "And me."

Alex laughed, but Tom could see the tinge of color that had settled on Alex's face. His eyebrows rose – this was different. Waiting for Alex to respond, he wasn't disappointed when the blonde said next,

"How many times do we have to go over this? High school fangirls are not the same as Sabina Pleasure."

"It must be hard for you," Tom said in mock sympathy. This time, he didn't even bother trying to catch the high-speed football, instead opting to dodge and let the ball crash into the door of the shed in the back.

"You know, the funny thing is, it doesn't even bother me. I mean, well, shit – I'm definitely looking forward to it, but… she's just… I don't know. I just want to hang out with her, a lot. Half the time, it doesn't even really cross my mind."

"Ew, stop," Tom placed a hand out to deter the teen, "this is crossing over from me teasing you to you talking about your feelings way too quickly for my liking." Alex moved forward and hit the guy in the shoulder, trying to bite back his smile. Tom was looking at him carefully.

"And as much as that totally defies my mad masculinity, Alex, you _never_ talk about your feelings. _Ever._"

"That's not true," Alex defended with an unfair pout as they two collapsed onto the steps of the deck, "I – told you last week when I was panicking about Sabina."

"Sabina, Sabina. Alex, I've seen you happy, sad, angry, paranoid, obsessive and even scared – but I've never seen you lovesick."

"I am _not_ lovesick. Besides, who even mentioned the word love? You can't fall in love in a week."

"No, but you _can _fall in love in three years."

"Oh, come on – I didn't see her for any of that, it doesn't count."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder!" Tom piped up, grinning widely. Alex flopped down onto his back, staring up at the sky.

"Shut up, Tom." Tom followed him in the movement until they were both watching for shapes in the clouds. Finally, after a period of silence, Tom said,

"What are you so worried about, Alex? Things are good. Things are great. Can't you just enjoy it for once?"

"Calm before the storm," Alex groaned, "Murphy's Law, Tom: Everything that can go wrong, _will_ go wrong."

* * *

o0o0o0o

The sound of heels clicking down a hallway alerted the man of the arriving person, and he turned in time to spot the woman as she approached him, clipboard held in her hands.

"Did you find out what they ended up saying?" She asked him, her voice low. She had her dark hair pinned up in a bun on the top of her head and brown eyes hidden behind silver-rimmed glasses. Her face was far too sharp and angular to be considered attractive. The man, who was slightly taller and had brown hair, replied huskily,

"What do you think? You were there when they made the decision, weren't you?"

She looked away. "No harm in finding out the verdict as it is. Do you expect me to simply trust their word on it?"

He gave a short, barking laugh, but there was no mirth in it. It was purely for show.

"Point made. They told them to prepare themselves, because we wouldn't be bought off like the others."

She pushed the glasses higher up on her nose, glancing down at the papers fastened to the clipboard in her hands. "It's about time someone around here made a smart decision. We can't allow the boy to run around unchecked anymore. He's becoming quite the threat to our network – sooner or later he'll be the death of you and me if we don't get rid of him while we still have the power too."

The man grinned. "Well aren't you wise?"

She scoffed, but didn't bother to bite back, instead changing the subject. "So how did they decide they were gonna do it?"

"First I think they're going for the good old sniper trick – you know, like Scorpia a couple years back? But they failed, and anything can happen, so for Plan B they're gonna try for blackmail – maybe take a hostage or two. Apparently the target's living with a cute little American – his housekeeper, I believe. Oh, and get this – kid's got a girlfriend, too."

The woman's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"

"Yup. Since Scorpia's assassination attempt failed last time they don't have a huge amount of faith in Plan A, so as a backup they decided to lead him right to them and then ice him the good old fashioned way." The man made a gun with his fingers and pretended to fire it, snickering. She ignored the immature action.

"All this trouble for one teenager. If Scorpia had been slightly more competent we could have dealt with the target back when he was merely a child. If you ask me, John Rider's son never should've been allowed to make it to the age of ten, let alone seventeen. We've let this go on for far too long."

"It hasn't been our problem until now." The man responded.

Her eyes narrowed as she let the clipboard fall to her side. She began to turn around and leave the way she came, repeating two words back over her shoulder as she parted.

"Until now."

o0o0o0o

* * *

A lot of dialogue in this, I got to say. Plus, all the scene changes – man, I am actually harsh hating this chapter. I could rant about it for a while, but instead, I'm just gonna apologize. I released it early because it's just a transition chapter, so I thought I'd go ahead and get it out of the way. Hope you enjoyed it anyway :P However! Now that this is good and done, the fun can begin.

Thanks for the reviews! They really kept me going :) I love you guys~

**Next chapter**: Panic, more phone calls, and where the hell are all the women?


	14. Hostage Situation

_"All this trouble for one teenager. If Scorpia had been slightly more competent we could have dealt with the target back when he was merely a child. If you ask me, John Rider's son never should've been allowed to make it to the age of ten, let alone seventeen. We've let this go on for far too long."_

_"It hasn't been our problem until now." The man responded._

_Her eyes narrowed as she let the clipboard fall to her side. She began to turn around and leave the way she came, repeating two words back over her shoulder as she parted._

_"Until now."_

o0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 14

**Hostage Situation**

There was the nagging feeling at the back of his head that made him feel like he was being watched. Alex had learned a long time ago to always listen to his instincts, and now was no different. Subtly shifting so he had a better view of the room without looking as though he could tell something was up, he angled his gaze out to the window.

The only warning he got was the glint of steel before he threw himself to the floor, needing no more after learning from experience that hesitation of the slightest kind will get you killed in a heartbeat. No more than a split second later the window behind him shattered and a bullet whistled through the air, planting itself in the wall right behind where Alex had been sitting. Had he not dropped when he had, the bullet would be lodged in his brain rather than the drywall.

There was a beat of silence when suddenly someone mumbled stupidly,

"What was _that?"_

Alex breathed out when all eyes turned to him – he'd been the only one to notice and therefore the only one to drop, after all. Slowly, he began to stand from his kneeling position, peeking out the window. He caught the glint of steel one last time in a high window of an advertising business' skyscraper across the street from their school before whoever had been there disappeared. Feeling reassured now that the threat had gone, he stood up completely, still wary to stay away from the window. The class was watching him in silence.

Mr. Greven, their history teacher, cleared his throat, turning to Alex. He was a short, stocky man with a thick mustache and a helmet of brown hair. "Mr. Rider! Care to explain what just happened? Is this some kind of prank?"

Alex turned his calm eyes onto the teacher, making the man feel unnerved by the seriousness of those chocolate depths. Then, he turned back to the wall where the bullet had landed, unawares to the class. He moved over to it, tugged it out and inspected it before dropping it into his pocket, his back keeping anyone from seeing what he was doing. With his other hand he pulled out his cellphone, making it look as though the reason he'd turned around was to read a text before tucking it back in his pocket and turning around again, a grin plastered on his face. Actually, all he'd found out by pulling out his cell phone was that it was dead.

"Sorry, my bad! Yeah, my friend, see he thought it'd be funny to launch a rock at the window while I was in class today…"

"We're four stories up!" Mr. Greven sputtered.

"… He plays baseball," Alex explained. Only the person nearest to the wall where Alex had pulled the bullet from had seen the small metal capsule and figured out the real situation. Fortunately for Alex, that person was Tom. The dark haired boy turned his wide eyes on Alex, silently awaiting an explanation, but Alex wasn't looking at him. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, Mr. Greven. I have to go – talk to my friend – but I'll patch some money through to the school to replace the window. See you tomorrow."

And with that, Alex grabbed his bag from where it was sitting under his desk and took off down the hallway, ignoring Mr. Greven's shouts behind him. He fled down the staircase, not bothering to check out at the office before he got into his car and sped out of the parking lot.

He pulled into Wolf's driveway, getting out of the car and opening the door before immediately moving into the kitchen. Wolf was sprawled out on the couch, a beer in hand, though he looked up when Alex entered. The teen seemed to be looking for something, and a frown was etched into his face.

"Cub? What are you doing back so early?" He asked. Alex spared him a short glance.

"Where's the phone?"

"You have your own phone," Wolf shot back. A flicker of annoyance entered his eyes before he turned around and pulled open the drawer that Wolf kept his wide assortment of pens, post-it notes and elastic bands among other stationary objects in his search for the phone.

"It's dead," he replied distractedly.

Wolf stood up, moving over to Alex. "Look, stop for a minute and explain. Why are you here–?"

Alex forced himself to calm down as he turned to face Wolf. He rubbed his jaw, looking stressed. Pushing his other hand down into his pocket, he withdrew the small silver projectile. Wolf's eyes widened in recognition.

"A bullet?" He inquired. "Where did you get _that?_"

"Sniper decided to try and take me out in history class. I barely managed to dodge, and the guy got away. Anyways, I need to tell MI6 – like, _now."_

Wolf nodded stonily, going back over to the couch and pulling the phone out from between couch cushions. Wordlessly he handed it to Alex before allowing Alex to punch in the numbers, having memorized them a long time ago.

"Hi, you've reached the Royal and General Bank. How may I assist you?" The clipped voice greeted him.

"I need to be patched through to Mrs. Jones right now, please."

"Sir, I believe you have the wrong number – there is no one by that name at this–"

"Yes, there is; she's head of Special Operations and she likes peppermints. I need to speak with her."

"… I'm sorry, she's not available right now–"

"Well then _make_ her available. Tell her it's Alex Rider."

"Please hold." Alex let out a frustrated sound as the benign music started on the other line, the automated voice telling him _your call is important to us_ before he felt Wolf's hand on his shoulder. Glancing up, he was met with the two expressionless dark eyes.

"You need to relax. Panicking right now is the worst possible thing you can do."

"I'm not panicking," Alex returned with a scoff. Wolf sighed.

"Look, all I'm saying is–"

"Hello?" The cool, collected voice of Tulip Jones sounded on the phone, and Alex hastily brought it to his ear. "Hi, Mrs. Jones? It's Alex Rider."

"Alex, of course. To what do I owe the honor?"

He relayed the events of the last half hour back to the woman, who was silent all the way through. When he finished, he heard her quietly curse – and Mrs. Jones was not a woman who cursed for anything.

"I knew something like this would happen. Capricorn… they were the last group we needed to seal, but they refused our last proposal just this morning. I – didn't think they'd move so fast."

"A minor miscalculation," Alex's dry voice reached her over the line, making her grimace out of sight.

"Yes. I'll inform Alan right away and send a car for you, but for now, Alex – don't do anything reckless."

Alex's brow furrowed. "Why would I…"

But the woman had already hung up.

Suddenly Alex realized something. Looking around frantically, he spun around to face Wolf, grabbing the fabric of the man's shirt in his hands dramatically. The comedic value of the classic maneuver was lost in the direness of the current situation, however.

"Where's Jack?"

"What?" Wolf's eyes widened, bewildered. Alex shook him a little, drawing an annoyed growl from the dark-haired solider.

"_Where's Jack?"_ He demanded again, eyes hard. A flicker of distress entered Wolf's expression.

"She… she went out to get some groceries."

"What – _alone?"_ Alex sputtered. Wolf tore his shirt out of the spy's grasp, speaking quickly,

"Yes, _alone._ It's been a week, Alex, this place isn't a prison. I didn't – I didn't see something like this coming!"

"Yeah, well, none of us did! Shit, Wolf! We let our guard down and _now_ look what we've done!" Alex took a couple steps back until his back hit the counter. He placed his hands on the edge of the granite, breathing in deeply to try and take back control of his rattled mind.

"We don't even know that anything's happened to her, Alex! You're overreacting!"

Just then, the phone rang. Both pairs of brown eyes sought out the device, heads snapping to stare at the object. Alex slowly reached out, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face, and after one last nerve-wracking moment while the phone finished off its final ring, Alex pressed talk and said hollowly,

"Hello?"

"Hey, Cub," Eagle's voice reached him. Alex sagged with relief.

"Oh my God, Eagle, I never thought I'd be so glad to hear your obnoxious voice."

"Thanks, Alex. I – wait – ugh, never mind. I have a question for you – have you seen Sadie around your place?"

Alex's eyebrows rose at the unexpected question. He absently tapped his fingers on the granite in a thoughtful way. Judging from Wolf's glare, it wasn't the least annoying thing in the world.

"… No, why?"

There was a quiet rustle and Eagle's answer came out a little strained. "Sadie left a note here telling me she was going to drop off the vacuum at the repair place an hour ago. And the note said she'd be back in fifteen… but I haven't seen her since."

Alex swallowed. "So, who cares? She probably got stuck in traffic."

Unseen, Eagle shook his head and reiterated, "An _hour_ ago, she said she'd be back in _fifteen_. Sadie's _never_ late – she always shows up to her all appointments, _always_ perfectly on time. Plus, she couldn't have gotten caught up in traffic because… the repair shop is only down the street. She didn't take the car, she walked. _I_ had the car."

"M-maybe something came up?" Alex was getting a _very_ bad feeling about this. Next to him, Wolf frowned and finally swatted Alex's hand off the counter. The tapping had become so rapid and loud now that it was difficult to think through. Alex didn't even notice.

"She's not picking up her phone, Cub. I think…"

Alex's hand was clenched so tight around the phone, his knuckles had turned white.

"… She's cheating on me."

"GAH!" Alex threw his free hand up into the air before shouting back, "_Are_ you _serious?_ She is _not_ cheating on you, Eagle! Just… let me get back to you."

He pressed _end_ on the phone and promptly hung up on the still-protesting man, turning back to Wolf.

"Did she say which supermarket she was going to?"

"She said 'that one on Johnson', so I think she meant the Price Low."

He nodded. "We've just got to make one stop along the way, alright?"

* * *

o0o0o0o

The two stepped out of Wolf's Camaro and then disappeared behind the large glass door placed just beneath a large sign with the words FABIO'S VACUUM AND TOASTER REPAIR. Looking around the place, Alex had to wonder how Fabio managed to keep the business afloat at all. All he could see were vacuums and toasters up on shelves – and in the corner there was a lone microwave. What was _that_ doing there?

He was disrupted from his musings when a small Asian man with his long hair pulled up in a ponytail popped up behind the counter. He gave them a sleazy smile.

"Hi there! I'm Mr. Han. What can I do for you?"

"Hi, Mr. Han–"

"Please, Mr. Han was my father. Call me Fabio."

Alex silently counted to five for a second, the man's painfully false chipper attitude grating on his abused nerves before conveying calmly,

"Fabio. I'm looking for a woman called Sadie Ramsden. She had an appointment here today for her… um, vacuum?" Alex had explained everything to Wolf on the way, keeping him from being left out of the loop. Julio Han didn't miss a beat.

"Ms. Ramsden! Of course, I remember her. Yes, she had an appointment…"

He turned around and checked his calendar, which was a pin-up with the image of a pug rolling in a bed of tulips sitting above the days. Somehow the man was able to read the messy permanent marker scrawl, and finished after a pause,

"… Today at three. A nice woman, I talked with her about it over the phone just last night. But today… she never showed up." Alex realized Fabio had purposely finished the sentence with an ominous intonation to his voice. He gazed in near disbelief at the grinning man. _What a sketchy character._

Eagle's words once again came back to him, though. She always showed up to all her appointments, always perfectly on time. So that meant that something had to have happened to her in the ten minutes that it should have taken her to walk from Eagle's house to Fabio's repair shop.

Just as Alex turned to leave, Wolf silently readying to follow, Fabio's voice cut in.

"So, is this information… _worth_ anything to you?"

Alex slowly turned around to stare at the man.

"… Fabio, are you… trying to _bribe_ me?"

Fabio studied his fingernails carefully, avoiding looking at the blonde. "… _Mmmaybe."_

Alex stared some more. "But… you already told me everything."

Fabio froze, eyes widening a little in realization. Then he shifted uncomfortably. "… Oh... right…"

Wolf rolled his eyes before grabbing Alex's arm and dragging him out the door, making a mental note to never break his vacuum and/or toaster. When they piled back into the car and sped off towards Price Low, both Alex and Wolf were feeling significantly more anxious about the situation. Alex had nearly been shot – Sadie was officially missing and they had little faith they'd be finding Jack at Price Low.

The two soon pushed their way into the supermarket and began asking all the people at the cash registers, but none of them could remember ever coming in contact with a red-haired American – and Jack wasn't exactly inconspicuous. Alex was beginning to get really scared now – that was Jack _and_ Sadie they couldn't find. And then a third name hit him all of a sudden – oh God, how could he have _forgotten?_ With a groan, Alex turned to Wolf and said,

"Gimme your phone."

One annoyed glance at the demand but no questions asked later, Wolf pulled his cell from his pocket and passed it into the waiting hand. Alex easily dialed Sabina's number from memory before holding it to his ear, praying she would pick up. One ring… two rings… three, four – _why wasn't she answering – _

"Hello?"

Alex sighed in relief, the added tension of Sabina's possible disappearance lifted from his shoulders.

"Hey, Sab," he said breathlessly, "where are you?"

"… I'm just walking up to my apartment – my class ended 'bout twenty minutes ago. Why – what's wrong? You sound–"

"How soon do you think you could be at Wolf's place?" He cut her off, glancing around the supermarket. A couple people had their eyes carefully trained on the blonde talking quickly in the phone and the built, dark-haired man surveying their surroundings next to him, and each one received a thorough searching gaze. Alex didn't know who could be watching at the moment, if they'd already gotten to Jack and Sadie.

"Um, maybe fifteen minutes? Alex, what–" She cut off abruptly, and the sound of something cell phone meeting concrete filled Alex's ears. Without thinking about it, he rose his voice and shouted into the phone,

"Sabina? Are you still there? SABINA!"

There was the sound of a scuffle on the other line, and then Sabina's irritated voice once again filtered through the speaker. "… Dropped the phone. Jeez, Alex, would you calm down? You're acting more paranoid than that one time with the sombrero and the jar of cherry jam…"

Alex's features instantly darkened. "I thought we decided that never happened?"

"Right, right. Anyway – sorry, I'm just heading back to the car now. Did something–"

This time, Alex could tell it wasn't an accident, or a joke. Because seconds after Sabina's voice cut out, a new one was speaking into the phone.

"Alex Rider? We've got your little girlfriend."

To his credit, his voice didn't shake or rise in volume. In fact, for someone internally screaming, he sounded eerily calm when he said, "Let her go."

"Well when you put it _that_ way, sure, why not?" The man jovially replied. Alex's eyes widened a little at the unexpected response, but he wasn't foolish enough to get his hopes up – especially since the man barely gave him any time to contemplate the words before he began speaking again.

"Ha ha, no, I'm screwing with you. Yeah, not happening. Why do people _always_ say that?"

"What do you _want?"_ Alex ground out, turning away from the prying eyes of the people in the lineups. He began walking towards the automatic doors, Wolf walking next to him with his expression holding barely restrained curiosity. However, he wasn't about to demand answers while Alex was still negotiating.

"What do _you_ think?" The man asked, the sarcasm in his voice oddly reminding Alex of – well, himself. "We've got _four,_ kid. One-seven-eight-three Angeles Alley. You have one hour – and just for the sake of making this call as stereotypical as possible… come alone." And then he hung up.

"But – wait!"

The bleak resounding silence on the other end of the line was all that met with his last plea. He stopped at the end of the sidewalk, still holding the phone to his ear until finally the dial tone began, signaling the finality of the call's conclusion. Wolf reached up and slowly pulled Alex's arm down away from his face.

"They said they have four." Alex relayed hollowly, staring down at the pavement. "… Sadie, Jack, and Sabina… but who's the fourth?"

Wolf shook his head. "One of your friends from school, maybe? Who knows. Did he tell you what he wants you to do?"

Alex nodded numbly, feeling the cold begin to infiltrate his mind, shutting it down. Not the kind you feel when you're falling asleep – no, this was different from that. It was the same kind of change he felt come over him whenever he got serious – the kind that left him with little control over his actions and decisions, but the cool, polished and untouchable frame of mind that he needed to get the job done, whatever _the job_ may be.

"Cub?" Wolf called gruffly. Alex's head snapped up to look at him, and for a second nothing hid the unbridled fear that danced behind his carefully constructed barriers. It didn't last long enough for Wolf to comment, but judging from the way the man's eyes instantly widened, it was long enough for him to notice it. Alex couldn't quite identify the recognition on his team leader's face, though he found he didn't like it anyway. His solution to this was turning away and rattling off despondently,

"One-seven-eight-three Angeles Alley. He wants me to be there in one hour – and he wants me to go alone." His voice was soft and precise, to the point. Alex looked around the parking lot, scanning for threats – and while Wolf felt like he recognized this strange being that had come and replaced sarcastic, annoying Cub, it didn't make him any less uneasy.

"_Not_ happening." Wolf decided immediately, drawing a steely glance from Alex.

"Did I _say_ I was gonna comply?"

Wolf frowned, but otherwise refrained from commenting, decidedly against an argument with their present situation hanging over their heads. Alex began walking towards the Camaro, calling to Wolf over his shoulder,

"Well, whatever we decide, we better think of it quick. Fifty-seven minutes 'till they kill the hostages."

Wolf was struck by the airiness by which Alex spoke those words. And then the real epiphany hit him – he knew this side of Alex; they'd met for the first time when Alex had picked up that handgun weeks back, giving way to a whole new world of questions bubbling up in the back of K-unit's minds. Involuntarily, Wolf's eye twitched.

"Is this how you handle it?" He asked suddenly, getting into the driver's seat and sparing a glance at Alex. Alex didn't return the favor.

"Handle what?" The blonde asked, back straight and eyes set forward, watching the road begin to move before them as Wolf pulled out of the parking lot.

"Alright, first order of business: I'm not an idiot. Let's not do that whole pussyfooting around the topic thing. You know what I mean. This life. These kinds of… conditions."

Alex sighed, his eyes meeting the floor at the foot of his seat. "Maybe… so what?" A part of him was glad that Wolf had caught on so quickly – or perhaps he'd already known for a while. It made it easier not to have to pretend, if only around Wolf.

"It's not healthy," the man told him simply. From the passing street signs and the route to which they were currently moving along, Alex deduced that they were probably heading home.

"Whatever," Alex muttered, turning his head away from him so he was looking out the window again.

"… Smart, maybe, but not healthy." Wolf explained. Alex's eyes flickered over to the man, but he didn't shift so he was facing him.

"You know what, Wolf? Piss off."

"Just stating the obvious." Wolf replied with a smirk. Alex's head snapped to look at him.

"Well _don't."_ He growled back. Wolf shrugged, expression noncommittal when he said,

"It's a free country, Cub. On top of that, this is my car. I'll say what I want."

"Well how would you deal with it? _What,_ Wolf? Toughening up too scary for you?"

"The only scared one here is _you,"_ Wolf bit back coolly. "And I _do_ deal with it; we're in the same position, remember?"

"Oh yeah?" Alex snapped, "Those your loved ones being held captive by terrorists?"

"Look, I know people in your age bracket aren't normally exposed to the kind of danger you're probably _used to_ by now, but that doesn't mean you should just… retreat. You _do_ know how Multiple Personality Disorder is formed, don't you?"

"Shut up, Wolf. You don't understand it at all."

"I get it, Cub! But there are better ways to handle everything. Harder and more painful ways, but better in the long run – trust me, I _know. _Fear isn't exactly the most rational emotion out there."

"I'm not–"

"Don't try and tell me you're not scared. I thought we had decided to cut the bullshit?"

"Fine!" Alex finally gave up and shouted, throwing his hands into the air. "I'm scared, okay? I'm bloody terrified! I haven't dealt with a hostage situation this close to home since…" He trailed off, eyes glazing over for a second before suddenly snapping back into focus.

"It's… It's Sadie, Jack, Sabina, and now some mystery person… of course I'm scared…"

Wolf was silent for a moment before telling him calmly, "Then show it, Cub. Experience it; _remember it._ After long enough, you'll be stronger for it. The second you start ignoring your emotions is the second you turn into a mindless robot. Without that kind of weight on your chest to ground you, how are we supposed to depend on you? Trust you? Without fear, what the _hell_ is gonna keep you from getting yourself _killed?"_

Alex was momentarily stunned by the ferocity in the way Wolf spoke. He was gripping the steering wheel tightly, and his next turn was sharper than necessary, throwing Alex against the window. The car slammed to a halt a second later, but it didn't even register to Alex that they were home again. He gazed at Wolf in astonishment.

So he did have it all figured out. How had Alex missed something so obvious? Wolf was a goddamn _SAS unit leader. _The lives of his three best friends were balanced precariously on his shoulders every minute of every day. And Alex had gotten so caught up in his own panic that he'd failed to see what was right in front of him – what Wolf had been all but _screaming_ at him the last ten minutes.

Not only that, but that kind of fervor… It hit Alex like a sucker punch to the stomach.

At some point during his stay with the man, he'd become one of those people.

Should… _he_ die, Wolf would be the one to shoulder that. No wonder he wasn't letting this go. With the careless way Alex handled himself during missions – available to him only because he was able to shrug off his humanity like an extra layer of clothing – it was no mystery how he was able to accomplish each one swiftly and precisely. The mystery lied in how, when all was said and done, he was still _breathing. _

Alex's eyes slipped shut, and he took a couple deep breaths of air, the silence remaining after Wolf's heated speech pressing down on them both like a twenty-pound anvil. Finally, Alex spoke up, voice soft and laden with regret.

"Wolf… it's… it's the only way."

Wolf's wide eyes met his when they reopened, the wordless message of _you're wrong_ loud and clear in his powerful gaze.

"Cub, if…"_ If anything happens to you… _His mouth was suddenly really dry – it felt as though he had cotton in it. He looked away from the teen.

"It won't. It won't, alright?" He repeated, boring holes into the man. Wolf swallowed.

"I know what you're doing. It's stupid, and it's reckless, and it's not gonna end well–"

"Those four don't need Alex the schoolboy right now, Wolf." Alex cut him off, eyes hard. He was set on this. "They need Alex the spy."

Wolf snorted, if only for a change of pace. He hated these kinds of talks. If anything made him question his decisions, it was these. "Well, like it or not, Alex the spy_ is_ a schoolboy; you're not a god. Whatever happens, happens."

"Stop being so selfish, goddamn it!" Alex exploded. "_Not _'whatever happens, happens'! If something happens and _I could've stopped it,_ how do you think I'm gonna feel after that, huh? Alex the schoolboy isn't strong enough! He can't _handle it! _That _can't happen to me, get it?_ I'm… _I'm_ not strong enough…"

Angry, distressed, and all around afraid, Wolf still couldn't keep the pang of sadness for the teenager he'd come to view as next to invincible all but breaking down before him. Seventeen was too young to be worried about such painful topics. He steeled himself to the lesson he was desperately trying to drill into the boy, however, and pressed on.

"If that's the way you feel, then we understand each other." Wolf replied, eyes narrowed. "You're not the only one with people looking up at you to pull miracles out of your ass. If Eagle lost Sadie, he'd never be the same again. If the guys lost any one of each other, they wouldn't be able to recover. Cub, whether you want to believe it or not, if… if _you_ died now… it'd be the same for all of us. _All_ of us."

Alex understood he meant the hostages, too.

"Don't call me selfish – not when you're standing right in front of me, knowing it's the same for me and the rest of the guys. You're a lot of things, Cub, but I've never know you to be a coward. So _don't _go giving me any of that hypocritical shit now."

It was as if he'd taken aim and hit a perfect bull's-eye – Wolf's words struck deep inside Alex's chest, resonating with the very fears that were threatening to crush him. He gazed down at the ground. For a couple seconds, the only things filling the silence were the sounds of the city behind them and their own breath.

"… God, are you ever bossy today."

And with that, the tension in the air was shattered. Alex raised his head, an unsteady grin in place. Wolf couldn't help but grin back in pure relief at the disaster he'd managed to avert. Although they'd never come to a real conclusion, and something still felt… off, Wolf looked down at his clock and forced himself to drop the matter. They'd already wasted far too much time with the driving and the heart-to-hearts.

"I'll get the stuff from the shed – 'cause hell if we go in there unarmed. You'll have to go first, because you _were_ supposed to go alone, and then K-unit and I'll back you up. While I grab us some ammo, you call the guys and we'll pick them up on the way."

Alex took the offered phone from him once again, muttering teasingly under his breath, "_do this, do that… you're worse than my girlfriend…"_

Wolf shook his head. Although the matter of Alex's self-worth wasn't exactly what he'd call solved, he'd managed to delay the kid's self destruction long enough for them to take care of the trouble at hand – the four captured…

Hopefully.

* * *

o0o0o0o

Oh, Alex… why so serious? *snickers*

Um, but aside from that, three days early! You know for the last week I've been fretting because I thought I was like a week and a half late… but now I find out I'm early… GAH. Actually, my computer's touchpad broke again so it was in the shop for two weeks before this – I only got it back Sunday. So I had to harsh cram some writing to meet my imaginary deadline!

To everyone who reviewed, thank you so much! You really keep me going, you know that? Every one of you. I don't have much to say to "great story" or "loved the chapter" aside from thank you, but know even the simple things really warm me, even if I don't reply. To my lengthier reviewers, you know I do love striking up conversations with you guys, so big hugs all around. I do my best to reply to questions and such, but remember to sign in or I can't answer them! :)

Anyone got any guesses towards the identity of the mystery hostage? I'd love to hear who you guys think it is ;D And can anyone identify the _Friends_ reference in this chapter? I'll give you a hint… Ross, Marcel, and the zookeeper. If you can figure it out from there, you are a true Friends fan.

*crosses fingers* PLEASE LET ME BREACH 300 REVIEWS THIS CHAPTER! I'll release early~

Wow, long authors note. Anyway, shout out to Mr. Greven. We need to catch up on some YGO Abridged Series, buddy. Tell Fabio he smells for me, kthxbai.

**Next chapter:** Gunslingers, attempts at tact by K-unit, and when the going gets tough…


	15. The Tough Get Going

"_I'll get the stuff from the shed – 'cause hell if we go in there unarmed. You'll have to go first, because you were supposed to go alone, and then K-unit and I'll back you up. While I grab us some ammo, you call the guys and we'll pick them up on the way."_

_Alex took the offered phone from him once again, muttering teasingly under his breath, "do this, do that… you're worse than my girlfriend…"_

_Wolf shook his head. Although the matter of Alex's self-worth wasn't exactly what he'd call solved, he'd managed to delay the kid's self destruction long enough for them to take care of the trouble at hand – the four captured…_

_Hopefully._

o0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 15

**The Tough Get Going**

It was pretty easy once Alex had Wolf's phone to contact each member of K-unit, especially since Snake and Fox shared an apartment. However, the teenager felt it necessary to call Eagle first, since it was his girlfriend that was directly involved in all of this.

"Wolf?" Eagle greeted, obviously having looked at the call display.

"Guess again," Alex said gravely. "Anyway, I got some good news and some bad news."

"What's the good news?" Eagle asked eagerly. Alex rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Well, the good news is that Sadie's definitely not cheating on you." On the end of the line Alex heard Eagle give a little cheer, which gave way to relieved laughter. The sound only served to make Alex's stomach drop further. This was all his fault, after all.

"Oh, that's great – but wait, how do _you_ know?" He asked suspiciously. Alex forced himself to spit it out.

"Well… she can't be cheating on you because… she's been kidnapped."

A beat of silence, and then a hard voice sounding nothing like the one from seconds earlier hissed, "Explain."

So Alex relayed the events of the past half-hour, skipping Wolf and Alex's little talk at the end. When he was finished for a couple seconds all he could hear was Eagle cursing on the other end.

"So let me get this straight. _My_ girlfriend was kidnapped and is now being held hostage so these terrorists can lure _you_ to some remote location in order to waste you?"

"Sounds about right," Alex confirmed, glancing out the window of the kitchen to see Wolf loading the bags up with guns, stun grenades, and ammunition. The guilt that had been pressing down on him tightened with the reality of the situation being put into words; this really was his fault, after all. And now Eagle and Sadie had gotten sucked into things, just for _knowing_ him. Wolf was just finishing as Alex continued in a voice that betrayed none of these feelings to the world,

"Anyway, there isn't a huge amount of time to explain, so we're gonna drop by your place and pick you up. Make sure you have a gun, and some extra ammo, alright?"

"… Wait, Cub?"

Alex paused. "Yeah?"

"…What's the bad news?"

Alex rolled his eyes, despite the circumstances. Funny how Eagle managed to do that. "See you soon."

Alex hung up and clicked on the contact _snake n fox home._ Pretty soon it was ringing and then Alex was met with Fox's voice.

"Wolf?"

Alex sighed. "Two more guesses."

"… Jesus?"

"Fox, as much as I want to laugh at that lame ass joke right now, this is serious. Sadie, Sabina and Jack have all been kidnapped by an organization called Cap–"

"Is she okay?" Fox demanded. Alex blinked.

"Who?"

There was a pause, and then Fox reworded hastily before any questions could be asked, "Er, the hostages."

Alex frowned, but chose not to comment on the strange behavior. Instead he began to tell the man everything he knew, as well as their plan for going in and hopefully getting everyone out safely. Fox listened intently the entire time, and at the end he ran a hand through his hair before telling Alex,

"I'll explain things to Snake. We'll be waiting."

It was perfect timing for a goodbye, since only a second passed before Wolf came barreling past him with a duffel bag hanging off each arm. He packed them into the trunk, pulled out a Glock and tucked it neatly under the waistband of his jeans, covering it with the back of his shirt. Alex did the same, and then the two crammed themselves into Wolf's Camaro – the two went through the motions so swiftly it almost seemed effortless. They drove in silence, having nothing left to say to each other, and time seemed to speed past in a blur as they picked up Eagle before arriving in front of Snake and Fox's building. A white van was parked outside the building, and before any of them could say a word on the matter, a hand reach out of the passenger window and waved, flashing a peace sign at them. Wolf rolled his eyes.

"Fox," he muttered, "that's Snake's van. But what are they thinking–?"

"Actually," Alex interrupted, "I think they're onto something. MI6 have probably put a tracker in this car, and mine for that matter. But I doubt they would've placed a tracker in _Snake's van._"

Wolf nodded slowly while Eagle leaned forward and peered at Alex, awaiting explanation. "But wait – MI6! Why would them showing up be such a bad thing? Maybe they could–"

"Screw everything up and get the hostages killed 'for the greater good'?" Alex deadpanned, making Eagle wince.

"When you say it like that…"

"It's true, believe me –_ I _know_._ They don't care about the little people. If they got involved in this, the primary objective would be to neutralize Capricorn for good. What's a couple casualties here and there?"

Alex's tone was faintly bitter, but Eagle paid it no mind. Alex sure knew MI6 well. Thinking about it now, it did make more sense – they weren't a police force, after all. They were a secret government organization bent on fighting terrorism, and they were most likely quite used to the idea of a couple people being trampled in the process of helping the majority – no matter who those people were. _Or what they meant to someone,_ Eagle thought worriedly, thinking of Sadie.

They left Wolf's Camaro outside the building, instead climbing into the van. Fox and Snake were in the front while Eagle, Alex and Wolf were sitting in the back – which incidentally had no seats. None of them were about to complain about discomfort, though.

"So what exactly is the story on this group, Cub?" Snake asked from behind the wheel. Alex fiddled with the loose thread at the edge of his white T-shirt, replying,

"A couple months ago I had a mission in Berlin, and I shut down this drug trafficking organization – forget the name of the thing. Turned out they had friends in high places, so while MI6 paid off the threats they sent me into witness protection program for spies… a.k.a. this guy." Alex gestured to Wolf, who frowned.

"Now what? They just out to get you?"

Alex blew a strand of blonde out of his face. "Them and every other terrorist group out there."

Fox sighed. "Jeez, Cub, are you really _that_ good?"

"I'm good enough for them to want me out of the way."

"Does this happen a lot?" Eagle inquired.

"What's with the twenty questions?" Alex grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't we have more important things to worry about right now?"

"Right at this second? Nothing other than driving."

He rubbed his face tiredly. "No, it doesn't happen often. This is the first time they've even gotten close since the Scorpia incident three years ago. Guess Capricorn thought it'd be a good idea to take me out before I got _too_ big, you know?"

"Why now, then? Why not when you were fourteen?"

"Cause I wasn't directly getting in the way of _their_ plans, was I? All of the world domination-slash-destruction projects up until now I've shut down left no survivors to _want_ revenge."

Eagle's eyes widened while Fox swallowed. Snake and Wolf remained expressionless.

"You killed them?" Wolf voiced the question they were all secretly dying to ask (no pun intended). Alex looked from man to man incredulously before hastily telling them,

"Are you serious? No way! I mean, not _all_ of them. There've been times… eat or be eaten, y'know?"

Despite the seriousness of the subject, Eagle feigned horror. "You _eat_ them?"

Alex gave the man a dead look.

Snake nodded, but didn't take his eyes off the road. At least the kid wasn't that far gone… yet. Thank god – Wolf and Fox also seemed to understand, and Alex felt a trickle of relief seep into his system. He wasn't sure how abnormal it was that he could do it at all – kill, that is. Not that he was okay with it… but desperate times called for desperate measures. Better the guy bent on mass murder than the future innocent victims to come, right? He kept his mind off of it most of the time – once he finished a mission and went back to _teenage_ Alex, all thoughts of the work he did for MI6 left his mind. It was the only way to stay sane, after all.

Alex distracted himself by checking his watch, doing the math and realizing they only had about fifteen minutes left before the deadline.

"How much longer, Snake?" Alex asked, leaning forward.

"Five minutes," he supplied. Alex closed his eyes and let his head fall back to rest against the cool metal walls of the van. It helped that he could feel his gun pressing against his lower back, too. Was it bad that he found the feeling comforting? He didn't know what was good and what wasn't anymore. To draw reassurance from the firearm in your pocket… man, the line between human and inhuman really had become too thin and blurry for him to follow.

"… So…" Fox cleared his throat, and Alex had to force back a groan. They really didn't want to let things go, did they? "MI6 teach you how to work that gun?"

"No." Alex threw caution to the wind. He was sick of all the careful half-answers and avoiding of the truth. MI6 could get fucked. "I learned on Malagosto. Uh huh, Scorpia training base a few years back."

Alex watched the recognition dawn on Fox's face – he'd told the group about how he'd trained with Scorpia after they'd found out about the scar right above his heart. However, he hadn't gone into much detail.

_No time like the present,_ Alex internally sighed, leaning forward and placing his hands on his knees, eyes flashing with a sharp seriousness that only Wolf really knew the story behind.

"Look. It was a mistake, okay? I should never – " He pulled the gun out from behind him, slamming it down on the cool metal floor of the van in frustration, " – have learned how to use the damn things. _Scorpia_ was a mistake. You wanna know the truth? _Fine!"_

Exasperation spurred him forth at this point – that and the need for the secrecy to just end already. People were in danger because of him, and K-unit needed to know as much as possible if they were going to have any chance at getting the hostages free.

"You _do_ remember Ash, right, Fox?" Fox took a moment to think before shaking his head. Alex had to also call up the memories – not that he wanted to by any means. He'd buried the idea of family a long time ago – after his parents, John, and his godfather had all died, he'd just stopped trying. He had Jack and Tom, and that's all he really needed… or so he told himself.

_That's right,_ Alex recalled, _Fox never did learn Ash's name. When he asked… I just said no one…_

Alex sighed, closing his eyes. "That guy you shot in Australia. He was… my godfather."

Fox turned around in his seat to stare at Alex in horror. Eagle's jaw dropped. Wolf was gazing at the blonde with genuine shock in his eyes. Realizing his mistake, Alex hastily rushed to reassure them.

"Oh, don't worry – I mean don't be sorry for killing him, he was – he wasn't a good guy…" Alex trailed off, mumbling, "He'd been working against me the whole time. Some godfather…"

"Yeah, but…" Fox's voice was quiet, "I killed him, and he was still…"

Alex's face darkened with something that rarely intruded upon the friendly features. Eagle instinctively leaned back from the expression.

"No," Alex stopped him, voice hard, "he deserved to die. That guy… he was the one who planted the bomb on my parent's plane."

"Ash killed your parents?" Fox murmured in astonishment, placing a hand over his mouth. "Shit, Cub…"

"It doesn't matter," Alex shrugged him off, "he's dead now, and that was years ago. I've moved on."

Wolf averted his eyes from the blonde, baffled even without saying anything. _How do you move on from something like that?_ Alex continued on, seemingly a little less shaky about revealing his secrets to the four men now that the bigger ones were out of the way.

"Anyway, Ash and my dad had been best friends – they both worked for MI6, see. But Ash screwed up during a mission that resulted in three other operative's deaths', and he was demoted. He got really jealous of my dad after that… and he joined Scorpia. His first mission was to kill him and my mom."

K-unit listened on in vigilant silence, not daring to interrupt the boy should he stop talking all together.

"He had this injury, too – stabbed by an assassin called Yassen, who my dad worked alongside for a long time while he was in Scorpia." Seeing the men's uneasy reactions to this statement, he realized how it sounded and once again amended,

"It was a mission – he was working for MI6 the entire time, as a double agent. My dad saved Yassen's life once, and after that the guy… he helped me out a couple times. In a mission where I was working to take down Damian Cray, Sabina… she was kidnapped."

Eagle gasped. "Jack said something about that, I remember now. So that's why you didn't want Sabina and you to get involved again! Why, what happened?" He prompted, just realizing he'd cut Alex off. Alex didn't even bother to start an argument over why they were asking Jack about his missions, instead deciding to just carry on before he lost all his nerve.

"Cray wanted this flash drive in return for Sabina's safe return… in my defense, I _did_ have a plan – it just… failed." He finished lamely. Wolf had to cover a small laugh with his fist, pretending to cough. He didn't fool anyone. Alex continued as though he hadn't noticed a thing, however.

"Long story short, Cray grabs Sabina and me and then hijacks Air Force One."

"Wait – Air Force One – like the _president's _jet, Air Force One?"

"The very same. So a lot of shit goes down… and in the end Yassen – who was helping Cray out at the time–" K-unit seemed to have abandoned tact, because a second later Snake broke in,

"I thought you said Yassen was helping you?"

Alex pushed down his impatience. "Not… directly. He was still technically working against me. Anyway, so he's dying, and I'm next to him and he tells me to find my destiny and… track down Scorpia in Venice."

Wolf shook his head. "And you _listened_ to him?"

A surge of irrational anger overtook Alex for a second. "Hey – a lot of stuff had happened! Besides, Yassen only died because he refused to kill _me._ What had MI6 ever done for me besides thrown me into the line of fire? I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, if you get me. To listen to the Intelligence Agency that had supposedly killed my parents, or the assassin that had saved my ass more than a couple times? Who would _you _have listened to, Wolf?"

"MI6, obviously! They're a government agency! And wasn't Yassen an assassin? Come on."

Alex shook his head while Eagle slapped a hand over Wolf's mouth, rattled off quickly,

"Don't listen to him, he's an idiot. Please, keep going."

Alex let it go and followed Eagle's advice, explaining the next few events. "Eventually I ended up in Venice – Tom had a brother and, well, it's a long story, I'll tell it to you another time. But the idea was that Julia Rothman – who was in charge of Scorpia at the time – had fallen in love with my dad, and MI6 had killed him. This was my chance to avenge him. So they trained me, and I went off on my first mission."

All four men swallowed simultaneously.

"I broke into Mrs. Jones' apartment and took a shot at her–"

"_What?"_ Fox shrieked. "What – how – are you–"

Alex placed his hands over his ears, waiting until the man finished his sputtering before finishing calmly, "–but ended up missing. See, she had a security measure where a huge glass wall had been separating us the entire time. The bullet hit the glass, it shattered, and they took me down seconds later."

Silence. The four were trying to digest how Alex was in his current position of MI6 fully-certified spy and part-time teenager – if all this had really happened, and they abandoned the question of just how Alex was still even _alive_ at the moment, then how come everyone had turned out… well, relatively okay?

Alex ran a hand through his hair in his trademark signal of stress. "Everything was explained after that… what had really happened with my dad – how he'd been working for MI6 all along, how he hadn't actually been killed by them like Scorpia told me… they had a tape, see, but everything had been staged. My mom and dad _had_ died in an airplane crash. It just wasn't as accidental as they originally told me."

"Alex…" Fox murmured. The blonde wasn't crying or anything – God forbid – but K-unit had long since learned to not trust Alex's face. The kid was an impeccable liar, after all; almost godly in his ability to hide his emotions. He probably had to be, considering his line of work. Alex shifted, glancing at each one of them before finishing,

"So that's how I ended up with Scorpia. That's why I can shoot the way I can. Now do you get why I hate guns so goddamn much?"

Eagle suppressed a shudder. "That all happened to you… and you still… go to high school and stuff? How do you, y'know… cope?"

Alex sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "Like I said – it was a long time ago. I prefer to just _not think about it."_ The words were pointed, basically telling them why he tried so hard to avoid the topic all the time.

"So you're okay?" Wolf asked gruffly, "You just… moved on?"

"We never really move on, Wolf. We just learn to live with it. Right, Cub?" Snake commented, glancing at the blonde through the mirror. Alex grimaced.

"I'm fine. Besides, it's not like I had time for an identity crisis. Invisible Sword took off the same day I nearly killed Mrs. Jones."

"That – you said you busted that?" Alex nodded, remembering the day he'd had to fight Nile on the hot air balloon. It had been one of the scariest things he'd ever had to do in his life – and that included his work since then. That day, he'd really been convinced he'd die. It was only adrenaline and instinct that kept him from curling up and hoping it wouldn't be all that painful. Wolf's eyes flickered over his face, reading the emotions expertly before sighing.

"Sucks to be you, Cub." He summed up effectively. Eagle gave a humorless laugh – the kind of laugh you rarely heard Eagle give, actually.

"Sorry we've been giving you so much shit," Eagle said after a pause, sounding genuinely abashed. "I didn't – _we_ didn't realize it was… so bad…"

"It's_ not_ that bad," Alex felt he had to tell them, more forcefully this time. "Whatever. It's done."

"Cub–" Snake had begun to cut in, but just then the glass around them shattered. The three men in the back instinctively shielded their faces, but a second later and they found themselves thrown against the side of the car as it was sent careening into an old fence. They'd been less than a minute away from the warehouse – and there was hardly a single person in this abandoned area of town…

Alex couldn't think after that, as the car rolled and he was once against hurled onto the other side of the car, crashing into Eagle. Snake and Fox in the front had their seatbelts buckled, but the back of the van didn't even _have_ seatbelts – so when the car smashed into a pole, nothing kept the three from finally finding their mark on the roof of the car. It spun to a stop, completely upturned.

A couple seconds passed before Alex groaned, pushing himself up and shaking his head to rid the glass from his hair – bad move. He must have hit his head, because all the gesture managed to do was give him a massive migraine. He sat for a moment, trying to calm his breathing while holding his head before he heard a voice not far from where he was crouched.

"… R-report…" It was Wolf. Alex opened his eyes, glancing over. He was lying on his side, a cut bleeding sluggishly above his head, but from all the normal angles his limbs were on, Alex had to conclude nothing was broken.

"Report!" Wolf's voice came again, a little louder and laced with anxiety.

"I'm…" Alex ground out, "… okay…"

A low moan was heard from Fox in the front seat as well, but Snake and Eagle didn't respond – Alex decided they had to have been knocked out. What happened? Did they hit something? Or – no, something had hit _them_. Alex pulled his right arm out from underneath him, using it to push himself up into a sitting position before pulling the other one up and leaning on it. In the end, he concluded dizzily, he would take shaking his head ten times over _that_ feeling. Sharp pain laced up the bone, sending him back to the floor. So, his arm was broken. He chanced a look in its direction and blanched. That's when the _real_ pain hit.

A gasp escaped him before he clenched his teeth against the wave of agony that overtook him. If he hadn't been experienced with broken bones, he might've cried out – but then again, Alex's pain tolerance was nothing to scoff at. Wolf twitched before rolling over, glancing over at Alex – they were faced in different directions, however, so Wolf had to ask.

"Cub? S'wrong?"

"Arm," Alex told him breathlessly, closing his eyes and trying to concentrate on something other than his erratic heartbeat. If they'd been attacked, that meant they could be jumped again at any moment… in fact, that was probably the plan. Catch them right outside the place, kill them quickly and dispose of the witnesses – the hostages, as it was, anyone at all who might talk. Alex tried to ward of the wave of despair that overtook him by telling Wolf in more detail,

"Arm's broken. Look at the others. Fox?"

"M'okay. Airbag… and seatbelt… kept me from gettin' too bashed up. Snake mighta hit his head, but he looks okay too. How's Eagle?"

Alex cradled his arm to his chest but turned, rolling Eagle over. The guy was out like a light, and bleeding from small cuts all over, but all of them were so that wasn't a major issue. He must have just passed out.

"Shit," Alex murmured, ears detecting movement from outside the car. "Wolf, they're–"

The van door was wrenched open, and two men leaned down to look at them, smiling malevolently.

"Alex Rider," one of the two identified gleefully, "night, night."

He raised his gun, but Wolf, who'd dropped and pretended to be unconscious when the men emerged suddenly sat up, grabbing the man's arm and grappling for the gun. The second reached behind him and whipped out his own, pointing it at Wolf and firing. However, Wolf caught the man reaching for the weapon and threw himself out of the way at the last moment, covering his head. The bullet collided with the metal of the van's walls and ricocheted, bouncing from wall to wall until less than a second later it buried itself in the shooter's forehead – he fell like a rock. The first snarled at seeing his partner fall, turning, but Alex was faster.

He barreled forward, throwing them both into the gravel outside the van. The gun skidded a couple feet away from them, and Alex landed on his broken arm – he cried out before letting the sound give way to a hiss as he fought the spots that clouded his vision. A moment later a hand closed around the very same arm, jerking it forward – and that time Alex really did scream, the movement jolting the injury hard enough to through him into a whole new world of pain. Wolf yelled something at him, but he couldn't hear him through the haze that had enfolded over him.

Before Alex could make another move, he felt something collide with the back of his head, and then darkness overtook him.

0o0o0o

* * *

Wolf was looking down at where Alex had been screaming seconds earlier. His face was drained of all color and it seemed as though he'd passed out. Towering above his now limp figure was the man holding a dark gun, which he'd just hit Alex over the head with. He'd managed to slip out from underneath Cub after the tackle, and gained control of things again. Now he carefully took aim at the unconscious teenager, a glint in his eye. Everything happened at once for Wolf.

Against all of his instincts, he hurtled himself forward into the man, just the way Alex had with the first time. The gun fired and the bullet hit the roof of the car, bouncing off into the sky while both hit the ground hard, Wolf on top. He'd taken the least amount of injury out of the group, so he had a considerable advantage compared to Cub. Leaning back, he balanced on the chest of his attacker and slammed both his feet down on the man's wrists, keeping them in place. Then he proceeded to _wail_ on him, feeling with a sick sort of satisfaction as the bone of the man's nose was crushed. The brunette struggled against Wolf's onslaught, but after what had to be over a good minute of slamming his fist into the man's face, he finally lost consciousness.

Wolf panted, his knuckles slick with blood. The attacker's face was little more than an a purple and red mess now, and although Wolf never really could find much joy in fucking people up, he was at least glad that the thug was no longer moving. If he wasn't moving, he couldn't hurt Alex again – or any of K-unit, for that matter. And at this, even Wolf found himself startled with the ferocity of his thoughts. He'd never known himself to be so… protective. He hadn't been met with many situations such as these, after all. A couple, yes, but mostly he was backed up by other units and helicopters… the whole shebang. This was different – it was so much more personal.

Fox had managed to push himself out of his seatbelt, and the car door opened as Fox stepped out. Well, tumbled would be a better word to use. One of his eyes was closed and there was a nasty looking bump bruising just above it, but other than maybe a few sore ribs, Wolf had to conclude he was okay. Most likely he'd been disorientated by the car accident – well, he probably couldn't have helped, anyway.

The dark-haired soldier stumbled over to where Wolf was now standing. His gaze slipped away from Fox and back to the van, as he barked out a question. "You check Snake?"

"He's okay," Fox reported shortly. "Out cold, though."

Wolf rubbed his face. "Fuck. What the hell are we gonna do?"

"How's Cub doing?" Fox ignored the question, crouching down next to the blonde. He was lying on his side, broken arm up – though you might not be able to tell anything was wrong at all, since the injury didn't look too obvious. There was no jutting out bones or twisted angles, or anything of that sort. For all anyone could tell, Alex just appeared to be sleeping. His face was completely devoid of emotion.

"As well as a guy with a broken arm can be doing. Try and wake him up, would you? I'll see what I can do about the other two."

Wolf moved back to the van, but not before giving their surroundings a quick check. There was a truck just up by the road where they could safely say their car had last been seen – before that very same truck had rammed into it, of course. There was no one in the passenger or driver's seat – it seemed that Capricorn had only sent two men, then. That was good; it meant they were still underestimating them.

He turned around and climbed into the back, peering over at the lifeless form of Eagle in the corner. He snapped his fingers right in front of his face a couple times before slapping his cheek a bit, and was rewarded when Eagle's murky green eyes began to flutter open, moving in and out of focus.

"Nnghh?" Eagle asked groggily.

"Eagle, I didn't know you were into that kind of thing." Wolf joked. "Keep these things to yourself, you creep."

"Wolf? Ugh… what happened? I feel… I feel…"

"I don't want to hear about your feelings, dumbass. Can you move? We got hit by a truck."

Eagle's eyes snapped open as he immediately sat up, dizziness making the enclosed space spin at a rate too fast for the poor man. He waited until the lightheadedness passed, Wolf crouched next to him patiently, and when it was finally abated he asked,

"So what's the verdict then, oh great leader?"

"Fox and I are fine. Snake is unconscious along with Alex, who broke his arm. We managed to take down the two guys who came after us, though." Eagle gaped at him, and Wolf could understand why. The fact that they'd gotten into such a horrific crash where three out of the five occupants _were not_ wearing seatbelts and all come out of it, well, relatively okay was a damn miracle. Not to mention the two idiots with guns that had thrown them into the accident in the first place.

"And they're…"

"One's dead, the other's… almost dead. Yeah, my bad," Wolf tacked on; though the hard look in his eyes told him he really wasn't feeling the guilt all that much. Eagle shakily got to his feet, bent over due to the low roof of the van and climbed out, followed by Wolf. While the latter then made his way over to the front to see how Snake was doing, Eagle approached Fox and Alex.

Alex was conscious now as well, albeit pale and clutching his arm to his chest.

"–ackling him probably wasn't the smartest option. Why didn't you just pull out your gun?"

"Are you kidding? I didn't have time to. He'd have had me dead before I'd even managed to touch the thing." It had been a split-second decision, and as per usual, Alex had the element of surprise and the gift of luck on his side. Maybe that's how he managed to take down an armed man twice his size with a broken arm… even if it hadn't been him that finished the job.

"And you're telling me the other guy practically shot himself?" He couldn't help it – Fox laughed a little. "What a moron."

"Yeah," Alex grinned, making motions with his hands to indicate the way the bullet had bounced off the walls and hit the first guy in his forehead. "Wasn't even a second later and he was on the ground. At first, I couldn't figure out what had happened."

They seemed to notice Eagle for the first time, since the two smiled upon finding him moving on his own. Even if Snake didn't wake up, carrying one person would at least be easier than carrying two.

"Look who's decided to join the realm of the living," Alex grinned, "at least you woke up before Snake. Being the last one… now that would have just been embarrassing."

"You missed out on Alex and Wolf's heroics," Fox informed him seriously, though his mouth twitched like he was having trouble keeping his face grave. Eagle stared on at the two, unable to believe how lighthearted the two could be. Even with the way the muscles in Alex's face were clearly strained against the pain, he could tell their good humor wasn't totally forced. They were genuinely amused. It was strange what getting used to this kind of situation did to a person.

"Yeah?" Eagle prompted, "Well, at least they're out of the way. What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

Wolf appeared next to them a moment later, helping a groggy Snake over to where the group was standing.

"Wasshap'nin?" Snake slurred, looking around them. His eyes landed on Alex's arm, which was clutched gently to his chest with his uninjured one. He frowned, understanding something wasn't right even in his drowsy state.

"Y'okay?" He asked, brows furrowed together in confusion. Alex rolled his eyes before leaning forward and slapping the man on the cheek.

"You sound like an idiot." Alex quipped, "Wake up already, stupid."

A little more recognition slipped into Snake's eyes, as well as annoyance. He reached up and rubbed his cheek before whacking Alex over the head.

"Refrain from bitch-slapping me next time, would you Cub?" The man growled. "Man, you try to show a little concern…"

Wolf cut Alex off before he could retort, however, his voice grim.

"So," he began, "where're we gonna go from here? Those guys were probably supposed to kill us and report back to their asshole commander or whatever. Any ideas?"

One of the reasons K-unit had no problem taking orders from Wolf as their leader was that he always asked for their input first. He wasn't usually one to make unreasonable demands without listening to their opinions on the matter, and that made their teamwork that much better. They weren't one of the top rated units in the SAS for nothing, after all. He was also good at making decisions on the spot – or the battlefield, in most cases.

"Well," Eagle spoke up, "since these two never ended up debriefing, I'm sure they've caught on that something is amiss. I'm glad to see they were still underestimating us a little, but from now on I'm guessing they're gonna be more cautious."

"That means one of three things is gonna happen," Fox chimed in after Eagle, "they're gonna send more people after us here, they're gonna wait for us to come to them, or they're just gonna kill the hostages and abandon ship."

"I'm thinking option A sounds the most likely," Alex told them, "so we should probably get going, huh?"

"Oh, alright then Cub," Wolf said sarcastically, gesturing towards the van – which was still lying on its side from the crash, "sure you don't wanna call shotgun this time?"

"Hey," Alex snapped, "sarcasm is _my_ thing, thanks. And you _do_ realize that it takes two cars to get into a collision, right? Fucking smartass…"

"They've switched brains," Eagle whispered to Snake, who coughed to cover a laugh, "the crash has channeled the Freaky Friday effect. I knew something like this would happen."

"Like hell you did," Fox cut in with a snort. He turned to Alex and Wolf, who were still bickering, "Guys, shut up already. We'll jack their truck, if everyone agrees."

When everyone nodded, the group shifted to look at the large truck. There were two seats in the front, but the other three people would have to sit in the back part of the semi. Alex was the first to move towards it, calling over his shoulder with a glance in Wolf's direction.

"Shotgun."

Wolf moved to catch up with him, followed by the other three members of K-unit. He was nervous, definitely – how could he not be? Although even if they didn't have much of a plan, at least none of them were mortally injured – yet. Plus, they had Alex and his miraculous luck on their side – so things couldn't turn out too badly… right? These thoughts lifted Wolf's spirits a little – that is, until he felt something cold land on his nose.

He reached up to touch whatever had hit him, and pulled his hand back to see the raindrop slip down his finger. Looking up for the first time, he found it had gotten gray… very gray. Dark gray, you might even call it. Clouds had completely overtaken the sky, so there wasn't a single patch of blue in sight. Rain, Wolf realized with a sick feeling. It was raining. And then…

A low rumbling struck the clouds, throwing a streak of lightning across the bleakness. In front of him, Alex froze, as though the lightning had soared down and coursed through him personally. Wolf's eyes widened at this new development – this was bad. This was…

"Mother_fucker._"

o0o0o0o

* * *

The 300th review has been claimed by **Talionyzero****! **Thank you, and thanks everyone else who reviewed!

Thirty-one reviews? Wow, you guys are amazing! I know I said I'd update early if I got to three hundred, but it wasn't that I wasn't writing – I just couldn't be satisfied! I had to have rewritten the chapter at least three times beginning to end :( I wanted it to be perfect, see? After such a response! Please keep it up! I was sooo happy 8D

And bet you didn't see the car accident coming. You probs had it all in your head, didn't you? "They'll go there, something will go wrong, someone'll be shot, and eventually it'll all work out." DON'T EVEN TRY IT BUDDY. It's gonna be… semi-original, hopefully. On that note, I hope I did okay with the whole confession in Snakes van scene… personally, I didn't like it, but I didn't want anyone to wait anymore 8B m'sowwy. This chapter's longer than usual, at least, and by a good thousand words, too.

Please keep it up with all the support!

**Next chapter:** Blood, sweat & tears and… Sabina has a plan?

PS. Is anyone else suffering physical pain from limewire being shut down? I mean, how am I supposed to steal my music now? :( Woe.


	16. Two Steps Back

_Wolf moved to catch up with him, followed by the other three members of K-unit. He was nervous, definitely – how could he not be? Although even if they didn't have much of a plan, at least none of them were mortally injured – yet. Plus, they had Alex and his miraculous luck on their side – so things couldn't turn out too badly… right? These thoughts lifted Wolf's spirits a little – that is, until he felt something cold land on his nose._

_He reached up to touch whatever had hit him, and pulled his hand back to see the raindrop slip down his finger. Looking up for the first time, he found it had gotten gray… very gray. Dark gray, you might even call it. Clouds had completely overtaken the sky, so there wasn't a single patch of blue in sight. Rain, Wolf realized with a sick feeling. It was raining. And then…_

_A low rumbling struck the clouds, throwing a streak of lightning across the bleakness. In front of him, Alex froze, as though the lightning had soared down and coursed through him personally. Wolf's eyes widened at this new development – this was bad. This was…_

"Mother_fucker."_

* * *

o0o0o0o

Chapter 16

**Two Steps Back**

It had happened very fast for Sabina.

One minute she'd been exasperatedly reassuring her paranoid boyfriend of her safety, and the next she couldn't speak, couldn't see. A meaty hand slammed over her mouth as her phone clattered to the ground, arms automatically reaching up to disarm the man that had taken hold of her, but to no avail. Another set joined in a second later, tying a blindfold around her face while the original thug's other arm came up to grab both her wrists in a tight grip.

Despite the obviousness of the situation – Alex was more paranoid than usual because something was going on, and she was being dragged into it _again – _things did not click right away. She had assumed she was only being assaulted – maybe for her bag, or for her body, who knew. Whatever her kidnappers reasons were, Sabina had other plans.

She'd stopped struggling for the moment, and managed to catch the last few words of whoever had begun speaking – seemingly not to her, though. "…_four,_ kid. One-seven-eight-three Angeles Alley. You have one hour – and just for the sake of making this call as stereotypical as possible… come alone."

_What is he _– it hit her. Her phone, he was talking into _her_ phone. Talking to _Alex._

_Oh, shit. I'm being kidnapped again, _she thought distantly, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Mmph!" Sabina growled, glowering in spite of being unable to glare at anyone as a result of the blindfold. The guard holding her gave a rough shove from where he was holding her arms behind her, warning her to shut up. She didn't heed the gesture, however, because in the next second she'd taken advantage of his fairly loose grip on her and slammed an elbow back, surprising him with the sudden action. While the man doubled over clutching his abdomen, Sabina used her newly freed hands to reach up and rip off the blindfold – only to be greeted with the site of two guns pointed at her. She swallowed.

"… Bad move," the guard who'd been holding her grunted, and with one last blow to the head Sabina was down for the count, slipping limply into his arms.

* * *

o0o0o0o

When the dark-haired woman came to, her first thought was _who turned out the lights?_

At first, she couldn't remember where she was, or why she couldn't move. It only took a couple seconds for her to recall things after the initial shock of the new surroundings, though.

"Hello?" Sabina mumbled, "Anyone there?"

She guessed that she'd been blindfolded again. Well, at least they hadn't bothered to gag her.

"Sabina?" a voice greeted her from her left. Sabina's head snapped to the side, frowning.

"… Jack? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Sadie's here too."

"Hi," another feminine voice hesitantly confirmed the statement. Sabina recognized it as Sadie's easily enough– she sounded frightened.

Sabina sighed.

"Three female hostages. How completely typical."

A rustle from her left alerted her she was wrong.

"Hello? Someone else there?"

"Ugh… where am I? Why – why can't I see?"

"Don't panic, remain calm," Sabina intoned jokingly as a last ditch effort at bringing a little humor into the situation.

"Who is that?"

"What's going on?"

"There's someone else here?"

_I'm getting a headache,_ Sabina thought dizzily, hearing the whirring of air through the vents echo distantly behind their voices. She waited until all the panicked questions had subsided before finally speaking up herself.

"So, I think the main issue here is that we've been kidnapped."

"What? Why?"

"Well, most likely it has something to do with Alex," Sabina responded. Man, she really wished she could see right now. It would make this whole ordeal much easier if she could actually _look_ at who she was talking to.

"Alex?"

"Why?"

"Who kidnapped us?"

More questions. _It's gonna be a long day._

"Alright, listen up," Sabina cut them off, "before we do anything else… we're gonna need a plan."

Silence greeted her proclamation.

… _A really long day._

* * *

o0o0o0o

"Useless. Fucking useless…"

Alex was hunched over in the passenger's seat next to Wolf, his eyes locked firmly on his feet. Outside, the rain had begun to pour, drumming against the top of the semi loudly. Every time the sky lit up in a show of lightning, or rumbled in a roar or thunder, Alex violently flinched, his whole complexion pale and clammy. He still had his broken right arm clutched to his chest in a sad attempt to protect it.

"Just so fucking stupid…"

"Shut up…" Alex ground out from between his clenched teeth.

"Don't tell me to–" Thunder shook the sky above them while the lightning lit up the dark car, burning the image of Alex's tortured eyes into his mind. Something was really wrong – wasn't there a name for that? Astraphobia? It was just ridiculous how much effect it had on the boy, though!

"… Cub. We can't do this if you don't…"

"If I don't what? Stop being crippled by thunder?"

"It's all in your head, Cub!" Wolf barked, "What do you think it's gonna do, fly down and thunder in your face? God _damn_ it!"

"Shut up!" Alex shouted, his good hand coming up to cover his face. This had to be the worst migraine he'd ever had in his life – it felt like a jackhammer was slamming against the inside of his head. Not to mention the flashbacks flittering within his vision, sending him back to various missions where things were looking grim. Why did this have to happen _now?_

"Or _WHAT?"_ Wolf yelled back, just as furiously, "_What can you possibly do in that kind of condition!"_

"You think I _like_ being like this?_"_ Alex demanded, swiveling around to glare daggers at Wolf, "Don't you think if I could turn it _off_, I _would?_"

"Well then what the hell are we supposed to do now?" Wolf asked him contemptuously, "You're _useless_ like this! At this rate we'll all be _killed!"_

"_No, we won't!"_ Alex snarled, eyes flashing dangerously, "no one is dying tonight! _No one!_"

"Oh yeah? You expect me to believe that you'll wait here and keep out of our way while we rescue the hostages?"

"Of course not! If I'm not there, they won't think twice about–"

"If you come with us, you'll be a liability," Alex froze at Wolf's words, "and if you can't protect yourself, we'll be forced to do it for you. Do you really believe we'll have enough time to get Sabina and the others out of there safely if we're busy doing that? Huh? _Do you?"_

"I can take care of myself!" he snapped, but his argument was significantly weakened when the next barrage of thunder hit, forcing him to clench his eyes shut and bite his tongue against the war raging on inside his skull. Wolf was looking impatient.

"You can't come, Cub. Your arm is broken anyway. Letting you come now would just be stupid."

"You can't go by yourself," Alex mumbled, his eyes still closed, "it'll never work if I'm not with you guys."

"What do _you_ want to do? Can you even walk straight? It's not like we can abandon ship and try again another day."

"I can walk," Alex forced himself to say, "I'll be fine. I can…"

He trailed off while the storm outside raged on, drawing Wolf's attention to him.

"Cub?"

"I'm fine," he repeated, though it was abrupt and it sounded like he was trying harder to convince himself than to convince Wolf, "I'm okay."

"Does it hurt?" Wolf asked gruffly. He wasn't just asking about the headache the teen boy was clearly suffering from – combined with his arm and any other damage acquired in the crash, he had to be far from comfortable.

"No," Alex lied without hesitation, "I'm still coming, and you can't stop me."

"Unless you can reign in your little fear–"

"It's not _fear_–"

"If you were _me,_" Wolf cut him off, voice uncharacteristically tired, "then what would _you _do?"

Alex couldn't answer that. He had enough trouble being _him _– he wasn't about to increase the pain thrumming in his temples by imagining himself in Wolf's shoes. None of them had it particularly easy. So it was with this question that the two fell into a tense silence.

The semi skidded to a stop in the back of an alley tucked behind the warehouse they'd been given the address of. Alex and Wolf both exited the car, immediately becoming assaulted by the downpour. The back of the semi was wrenched open and pushed upwards as the pair was joined by Snake, Eagle and Fox a moment later. The three were gazing at Wolf and Alex as though they were unsure whether or not one would spontaneously combust. Alex returned their looks with his own hard one.

"I'm guessing this metal isn't all too thick?" Wolf asked dispassionately, his fist rapping against the side of the truck. Fox cleared his throat as Eagle nodded solemnly.

"Then we'll take a vote," Wolf declared, "raise your hand if you think Cub should stay behind."

He raised his own, eyes expectant, but when no one else's hand joined his he began looking a little alarmed. "Guys?"

Eagle rubbed the back of his head. "… Wolf, we can't do this without him."

"But we can't do it _with_ him, either!" he insisted, "We'll be slaughtered if we have to babysit him the whole time."

In Wolf-speak, this really meant _we can't afford to take a bullet for him on a rescue mission._ Alex had to wonder why he didn't just say _that, _and skip the whole sounding-like-an-ass part.

"Alex… Alex'll just have to manage on his own."

"I'm right here, you know," Alex muttered darkly, "can I say something?"

"By all means," Fox waved him on.

"Listen to me. You go in there without me; they have absolutely no reason to keep you alive."

"But the whole point of this was to take you out," Wolf disputed, "it wouldn't matter whether or not you came with us. They're gonna be shooting to kill either way."

"That's where you're wrong," Alex stopped him, surprising the group. This was news to them. Raising an eyebrow, Wolf crossed his arms challengingly.

"Then enlighten us, Cub. You got another plausible reason why they tried to flatten us under this monster?" he nodded in the direction of the semi. Alex went rigid as more thunder crackled behind him, but after a couple quick breaths and a moment of silence thereafter, he seemed to recover.

"They had about as much faith in that one as they did the sniper shot, I'm sure," Alex revealed carefully, "otherwise they wouldn't have given us the real address."

"How do _you _know this is the right address?"

Alex responded by moving over to where the brick wall of the crumbling apartment they were parking behind ended. He leaned out so he could see just beyond it, where the old warehouse was standing innocently. Alex's eyes were narrowed as they flickered searchingly over the structure.

"Look at the fence, Wolf."

Wolf was caught off-guard by the peculiar question, but he complied anyway, his eyes drifting over to the metal fence surrounding the lot. A well-timed fork of lightning shot across the sky, sending light glinting off of the polished steel poles and drawing a frown onto Wolf's face in the process.

"It's… new," Wolf concluded. That was odd. The building itself was really quite old.

Alex nodded, unsurprised. "And take a closer look at those doors. Specifically, the handles and the far right corner."

Wolf did as he was told once again, startled by his findings. The lock on the handles stood out among the otherwise grungy location – it was clearly new as well. In the corner above the door, there was a tiny object that Wolf couldn't quite make out from their distance. Spending so long in the SAS let him put together the pieces even without seeing it, though, and it dawned on him a second later. It was a camera.

"Now why do you suppose they suddenly decided to up the security on this place? As far as I know, it hasn't been used for years…"

How had Alex, especially in his crippled state, been able to catch such small details in the amount of time since they'd arrived? Was it possible that Wolf was _still_ underestimating him, even now?

"They were testing us," Alex continued without a hitch, "everything; it was all a test. So yeah, they want to kill me. But not right away."

Wolf's eyes widened at the implications of his words.

"Are you saying they want information?"

Alex shrugged. "I answer directly to Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones. Do you know how few operatives do that? And in this business, knowledge is power. They would never let such a valuable resource escape their grasps so quickly. My death is definitely still a priority… just not the first one."

"What was the point of the car accident and the shooting then?"

"I figure they decided if I couldn't even survive two little assassination attempts, what I could tell them didn't really matter either way," he responded dryly, sounding a little too unconcerned for Wolf's liking considering the direness of the circumstances.

_Well, this certainly changes things, _Wolf thought to himself with an internal sigh. He really shouldn't have been surprised – and he wasn't, really. Whether he was willing to admit it out loud or not, Wolf knew that Alex was a big time spy. He'd been working for MI6 for _years_, and from what he'd heard, the boy was _good._ Even if it was damaging his psyche worse than Alex would ever let on.

"…Alright, Cub. Let's hear it. You have a plan, don't you?"

And finally, despite everything else, that sly grin appeared on Alex's face

* * *

o0o0o0o

"We're not going to get anywhere if we don't first find a way out of these bindings," a voice to Sabina's left, now confirmed as Jack, said restlessly. The sound of rustling arose from her position – she was most likely struggling, but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Sabina bit her lip.

"I think I can help, if getting out of these ropes is all you need," a silken voice, now sounding considerably calmer than it had just a minute ago, hit her. Sabina turned her head in the direction she'd heard the words from, asking,

"I'm sorry, but do we know you?"

"Probably not, considering I don't know you," the obviously female speaker replied languidly, "I'm Tamara Novara. Sounds nice, doesn't it?"

"Novara?" Jack's voice reached them next, "You're related to Luke?"

"Oh God…" Sadie moaned. This day was just getting worse and worse – through the blindfold, she could feel tears welling up at the corners of her eyes.

"What?" Sabina demanded. She felt like she was missing something here. That is, until it clicked.

"… You're Tammy, aren't you?"

"That would be me. Sadie? You're here, too? Why have we been kidnapped?"

"We can discuss that later," Sabina insisted, leaning out against her bindings, "you said you have a way of getting us out of here?"

"Just out of the ropes. It's my nails… they're what you call _reinforced."_

At these words, Sabina thought to herself dazedly, _so the rumors are true; she really _is_ insane._ Her curiosity got the better of her thought, and she asked,

"Why in the world would you need to _reinforce _your _fingernails?"_

"Let's just say this isn't the first time I've had to get myself out of some ropes, that's all," she replied evasively, injecting a gap into the conversation. It didn't last long.

"… And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Jack asked, eyebrows raised behind her blindfold.

"I like rough sex," Tammy gave up and declared bluntly, silencing the other women. After another significantly awkward pause, Sabina finally found her voice again to ask,

"… Well, I'm gonna go ahead and not judge you long enough for you to get us out of these ropes, alright?"

"And then?" Sadie asked.

"Jack knows where it's at," Sabina said grimly, while Jack sighed. It really wasn't fair that out of the four of them, _she_ had to do _that._ That being said, she could also tell that Sabina was waiting on some kind of affirmation, so she muttered,

"Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."

After that, it only took Tammy about another five minutes to wear down her ropes with her miraculous nails, while the other three were stuck wondering just why the world offered such a service. Finally, they heard a quick snap, and then suddenly Sabina could see again. The woman had taken the liberty of removing all their blindfolds before moving onto the untying, so when Sabina was loose, she helped Sadie from her binds while Tammy continued with Jack. As a result, the four were left stretching the kinks out from their unpracticed muscles, glancing around until their gazes rested on the vent placated at the top-right corner of the wall.

"We're gonna have to use the pyramid method," Sabina decided, her fist falling into the opposite palm as she thought, "and then just keep crawling until we find one that leads outside."

"Sabina…" Sadie muttered, "I get claustrophobic…"

"Sadie…" Sabina imitated, "suck it up."

Jack was surprised in the way that Sabina was keeping a level head – she was probably practiced, as it was. After all, this was Jack's first time being taken hostage under Alex's name. She always sort of knew it was bound to happen someday – she'd seen the Bond movies – but somehow Sabina had beaten her to the punch. Nevertheless, Jack could still detect a slight nerve of fear stemming from the eighteen-year-old. They didn't have any weapons (if you didn't count Tammy's nails… which any normal person _wouldn't)_, nor did they have any idea if Alex and K-unit would make it this far at all. The organization was after _their_ boys… who knew how long they'd last, while being at such a significant disadvantage?

_Well,_ Jack thought as Sabina kneeled down, ready to boost Sadie to the top, _perhaps that explains why she's trying so hard. I'm sure she's thinking the same way the rest of us are. If we can lighten the load any, then why should we just sit here quietly and await rescue?_

_How boring._

Just when Sadie had one foot firmly planted on Sabina's shoulder, and things were beginning to look up, footsteps sounded from down the hall. There was a shout, and then the footsteps were coming closer and closer as a look of panic passed over the girl's faces. Sabina placed a finger to her lips in the gesture to be silent before Sadie threw herself at the door, flattening her body against the wall next to it. The movement was made right in time for the door to burst open, one man brandishing a gun yelling at them in some foreign language.

John Gallagher had been in charge of watching the security cameras when one had suddenly flickered off near the south end of the building. There was nothing on the tapes – just, out of the blue, the screen went black. Then, as if this motion had set off a chain of events, random screens began plunging into darkness, like dominoes. Thoroughly distressed, he'd grabbed the phone next to him in order to call for back-up only to find the dial tone was gone…

The last thing he saw on the eighth screen from the right, four rows down, was a snapping of ropes and a hostage standing up before that one retired from existence as well. Unable to summon back-up, he'd pulled his gun out from the holster and leapt into action, heading towards the room the hostages were being kept in.

By the time he had reached the door and thrown it open, he'd prepared himself for anything… or so he imagined.

_Orange, _he would later go on to recall dizzily, _orange lace, with a little black bow in the middle. Like Halloween…_

Upon entry, the first woman he'd seen had reached down, grasped the bottom of her shirt and abruptly yanked up, exposing him to a large variety of creamy white skin and the orange bra he would come to reflect upon later. As this fantastic view had caught him off guard, the man was left vulnerable for a moment – one that Sadie took full advantage of.

Before anyone could say a word, Sadie let out a war cry unlike one they'd ever heard her express before – she was usually rather timid around K-unit and the others, sticking close to Eagle. Such traits did not hold her back in her next actions, however, and the last thing the guard remembered feeling was an explosion of pain from the back of his skull before he was knocked unconscious, dropping to the floor like a rock. Apparently chairs _did_ break when you smashed them over people's heads. The woodchips clung to her light blue shirt.

Panting, she glanced up at the other girls, who were gazing at her with a new found respect. Suddenly aware of herself, she let out a breathless giggle and rubbed her nose, averting her eyes to the ground.

"So, shall we–"

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"Oh shit – the alarm!"

Jack gasped, glancing from the door to the vent in search of an escape route. Sabina leaned back on her heels and scratched the back of her head, looking thoughtful and, well, all-around unconcerned at the newest turn of events. After a second of consideration she decided,

"We'll take the vents. Now that the door is open and this guard has dropped, they'll assume we took the door once they catch up with us… and anyway, it's cooler this way."

"But–" Sadie tried to interrupt, but Tammy silenced her.

"Honestly, Sadie, don't start," she brushed her off briskly, being the first to move towards the vent. Sadie swallowed her apprehension and nodded, though not before casting a hateful look at Tammy. Tammy herself wasn't _entirely_ sure of what was going on – apparently Alex, or Mr. Rider as she'd known him, had some freaky enemies with spare time on their hands. In response to whatever he'd done to piss said enemies off, they'd kidnapped _her._ Tammy couldn't see the logic in this and, in turn, decided she was up against a crowd of illogical people. Having heard the phrase '_never fight fire with fire',_ she'd allowed this new, dark-haired girl to take the lead. She seemed to know what she was doing as it was, and there'd be plenty of time for answers later, when they _weren't_ trapped in a building surrounded by a bunch of illogical armed men.

Kneeling as Sabina had done earlier, she glanced over at the eighteen-year-old and muttered,

"Ready when you are."

* * *

o0o0o0o

It had been a brilliant plan on Fox's part.

Eagle had been helpful too, as he was the resident "technician" of sorts in K-unit. While Snake was the medic, Wolf the leader and Fox the planner, Eagle had his own role – therefore, his knowledge of which wires to cut when in order to make this or that happen came in _very_ handy. Unfortunately for them, the cables that connected the alarms were located in a breaker inside – which made sense, when you thought about it. The main breaker was outside, because it was an old building not equipped to hold high-stake hostages. The alarms had been added recently, though, and Capricorn had taken extra precautions. Alex would like to say they weren't stupid, but they _had_ kidnapped the women, so he couldn't justify rewarding them that.

"The cameras should be going out about now," Eagle told the group, "but I don't know which ones, and we can't get them all if we want to get to the girls in time. I've gotten most of them at this point–"

"To hell with it, just cut them all," Wolf instructed gruffly, and Eagle complied. Unfortunately, one of the final wires triggered an alarm, so the five were forced to abandon the task and run indoors. Through this, Alex hovered on the sidelines, trying to focus through his pounding headache and keeping his broken arm close. It would be better if anyone they encountered didn't notice the weakness, so he tried not to make the discomfort to obvious. Well, that and he didn't want to give Wolf any more ammo against him. The man bitched enough without Alex's pained expression fueling the fire.

The next task was the lock – though Eagle seemed fairly confident of this one. Alex was sure he was secretly pleased to finally put his talents to use – up until now it had been all shoot now, talk later, with Snake and Wolf taking the lead for the most part. He crouched, throwing back behind him jokingly,

"Anyone got a bobby pin?"

"Just get on with it," Fox replied impatiently, surprising them. Usually he was the first to go along with Eagle's childish jokes. In fact, if anyone should be getting worked up here, it should be Eagle, since it was _his_ girlfriend trapped inside with the others. Why was _Fox_ getting so agitated?

At the looks the others sent him, Fox crossed his arms and told them a little more calmly, "I'm fine. Almost done there, Eagle?"

Eagle sent him a grin, poking the lock playfully. The latch clicked and the door inched forward, now open. This might have triggered the alarms too, if they hadn't been sounding obnoxiously in the background already.

"Alright guys," Wolf stopped them just as Snake reached for the door handle, "the objective is to get the girls and zip back out as quickly as possible. The general idea is try not to shoot to kill, only incapacitate. But, that being said, if it's necessary… don't hold back. Just keep in mind that we have one goal and one goal only."

Wolf's eyes flickered over to Alex and then moved back over to K-unit, and with that, a hidden message was also encoded: protect Cub. Alex rolled his eyes, wincing a moment later as a crack of thunder rumbled above them. He squared his shoulders against the throbbing in the temples and the memories flitting through his mind. As much as he knew Wolf _meant_ well, it still pissed him off the way he went about expressing these things. As if he needed to be babied or something… Broken arm or no broken arm, he could handle himself just fine.

Eagle smiled and lightly punched Wolf in the shoulder. "There you go acting all cool again."

Wolf mumbled something about incompetent subordinates and returned the gesture, while Alex watched the exchange carefully. Eagle was as inappropriate as always, but that didn't seem right – his girlfriend had been kidnapped by terrorists. If there was any point in Eagle's life when he _wasn't _going to act like a ten-year-old, it was now. It occurred to Alex after that that rather than unusual, it could actually fit… perhaps this was _Eagle's_ way of coping. While Alex focused by throwing caution to the wind, Eagle dealt with the stress better by messing around and acting like he always did. A significantly healthier approach.

Clenching his uninjured fist against his trembling, Alex reached forward and grasped the handle, pulling it forward. When they'd cut the wires, they must have accidently knocked the electricity one loose – the lights were flickering on and off through the hallway, making it look all the more ominous. Fox sighed and rubbed his forehead, observing dryly,

"Like a scene from a horror movie."

"Watch out for Leatherface," Alex advised in reply, playing along with a little effort. Then he pushed forward into the hallways. There were a couple faint cries echoing down the halls, but none seemed particularly close – this was both good and bad. It could mean they weren't in any immediate danger, but this wasn't a sure bet; people could be hiding anywhere, or perhaps they were waiting for them elsewhere. What was that shouting about then?

"Stay alert," Wolf hissed at him, slipping past Alex in order to take the lead. The first door was approaching, and with that the four picked up speed. Wolf grabbed the door handle and pushed it open in passing, sending a quick glance inside. It was unlikely the hostages would have been placed inside the room closest to the exit, but they were checking behind every door, so this one was no exception.

The second door was right next to it, and Wolf's hand was closing in on the handle when faces appeared in the corner of his vision. He spun around, catching the glint of steel just in time to hear three clean shots and a thud. All three men had hit the floor, their injuries masked by the red seeping into their clothes. He looked back; Fox had shot two bullets, Eagle, one. The two met his gaze soundlessly, and he nodded his approval. Shining perilously in the flickering light was a gun, still held loosely in one man's hand. His index finger was resting on the trigger, as though it had been milliseconds from pressing down. It most likely had been, actually.

More voices sounded down the hall, and Wolf took the moment to bark orders to the four following him.

"We're picking up the pace. This is gonna be where it gets tricky; Snake, Fox, you guys are on shooting. Snake and Alex, kick open any doors you see and make sure you get a good look around. Eagle, watch my back. If they get close, go for the gun first and knock 'em out with a kick to the head – preferably, alright? Just do whatever it takes–"

He spun on his heel, a scowl on his face as a bullet planted itself in the wall behind him the same time their attacker took one to the hand, his gun dropping to the ground harmlessly. Less than a second later and the shooter himself was on the ground, unconscious.

"–to take 'em out of the game."

Things sped up for Alex after that. While Snake, Fox and Wolf concentrated on taking out anyone who came within their line of site, Alex and Eagle worked to kick open the doors and look around, eventually the last henchmen had fallen and while the group was left with scratches and bruises from more close-range fights, no fatal wounds had been inflicted. Alex had laughed a little in pure incredulity – they were _lucky. _It shouldn't have surprised him – he'd always been lucky, after all – but it did anyway. Though they still hadn't found the girls.

"Now!" Wolf shouted behind him, firing off a couple rounds before continuing, "Everyone be ready, because the door the girls are trapped in is most likely gonna be swarming with–"

The last gunman dropped like a rock –

"… guards…"

They didn't have to kick this door open – it was already providing a clear view into the room, which was occupied nothing other than four, empty chairs surrounded by rope. The hostages had _been_ there, that much was obvious.

"… Where the hell are the girls?"

Eagle asked from behind Wolf, incredulity and bewilderment written all over his face. Alex's finger's twitched as a boom of thunder reverberated through the building, and for a couple seconds, the lights went out completely. They stood there and stared, not sure what to do next. It was Snake who recovered first.

"They must have moved them – but then why –"

"Where are they _now?"_ Eagle repeated, his agitation finally showing through. He brought his fingers to his lips and began to chew his nails, glancing around the hallway in anxiety. It was true that everyone they'd encountered seemed to be moving blindly, but the heat of the chase drowned out these realizations sooner. What about the man Alex had talked to on the phone? Where was he now? And why would he move the hostages?

"They must have seen us coming," Fox said, following the words with a short curse, "and moved the girls before we could reach them."

"If that's the case," Alex muttered, his hand sweeping through his blonde hair, "then how come we haven't heard from the boss yet? If he was trying to contact me, he could. I have my phone."

Snake's eyes lingered upon Alex even after he'd finished his short speech and everyone moved on with the discussion, temporarily dumbfounded. He had yet to stop shaking, and he would periodically shut his eyes and even out his breathing, mouth set in a firm line. It certainly looked like he was fighting – his arm had to be feeling awful too. All the moving around had to have jarred it – was he really okay? And where could they go now? Maybe the better decision from this point onwards was to just call for backup and take Alex to a hospital. This wasn't the right scene for the injured spy, not at the moment. How could he be expected to pull off any miracles when he was incapacitated like this?

"I think we should split up."

The quiet suggestion was, surprisingly, from Alex again. Wolf spared him a short, condescending glance before responding,

"Absolutely not."

"We'll cover more ground."

"Doesn't matter."

"We don't have time to–"

"It's not happening."

"You're not being–"

"Cub–"

"Wolf!"

Wolf finally turned to Alex, raising an eyebrow in a disbelieving fashion. "Do you really think you're gonna win this one? We _can't _split up – then we're just _asking_ to be picked off one by one."

"I think we're gonna have to ditch the _safe_ approach, Wolf. Look where it's gotten us."

"Past all the guards safely and unharmed?"

"Not like that means anything if we're back to square _one,_ does it? The girls are no closer to being rescued than they were a half hour ago. We're running out of time, and we haven't covered the whole building yet!"

"What can _you_ do by yourself, anyway? Broken arm, scared of thunder–"

"I can still see. I have my phone. If I find out where the hostages are being held, I won't rush in, I promise. I'll call you first." Alex and Wolf gazed fiercely at each other for a moment, both wills clashing violently against each other while the rest of the group stood in tense silence.

"Too much could happen. I'm against it."

"What part of 'we can't play it safe any further' do you _not_ understand?"

"Would you rather be _killed_, Cub?"

"If it was a choice between me or any of the girls, it's not even a question," he dismissed, brown eyes glinting gold in the limited light. He was so serious about those words that for a moment, K-unit forgot just how broken he already was. Wolf paused before replying.

"Sorry Cub, but it's not a choice between you and them. It's a choice between _us_ and the _enemy._ There's no other option._"_

"_You're an idiot!_ At this rate, none of them will make it out alive!"

"Better them than–" Eagle's eyes widened at Wolf's abrupt cutoff mid-speech, while Alex's fists clenched. He might as well have finished his sentence – everyone could put together the ending past that point quite easily. _Better them than you, honestly._

"You can't – you can't make that judgment. It's not your girlfriend in there. Not your big sister. Think about _Eagle–"_

"That's exactly what I'm doing!" Wolf finally snapped, agitated at the slip up, "I'm not thinking about – about Sabina, or Jack, or Sadie or anyone else! I'm thinking about _you four!_"

"Then you're just being selfish! What about everything you said back in the truck?"

"Of course I still _want _to save them! _Of course!_ Just – just not at this kind of price! Losing you guys for them? I'm just not that much of a god damned martyr! Maybe I am being selfish! Is that so bad?"

"YES!"Alex all but roared, "How are you supposed to lead a rescue mission if you're too afraid to put your teammates in danger?"

"It's not like I planned this! I – what am I supposed to do? It's just–"

"Wolf."

Eagle's quiet voice cut their argument off with the sharpness of a steel blade. Both men turned to face the speaker of the verbal bombshell, both being unprepared for what they would see in the man's eyes. Before Wolf could register a single movement, his back was hitting the wall as Eagle's hand grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the drywall again. Caught completely off-guard, Wolf stared at the man in shock when he'd stopped.

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Eagle hissed, "If that's your attitude towards this, then fuck it. I'll do it alone. You can leave."

Wolf was still muted by the sudden action.

"Alex is right. We can't afford to half-ass this! Haven't you realized yet that we're all here _because_ we're willing to give up our lives for those people? Just because they don't mean anything to _you–" _Eagle's voice had risen to a shout, and the word was emphasized when he pulled back in order to slam Wolf against the wall again, "_doesn't mean we're willing to let you parade around pretending this twisted joke of a rescue is going anywhere!"_

"… Eagle," Wolf tried, but Eagle shook his head.

"I get it. The hostages – it's not personal for you, right? But _it is for us_. Guess what, Wolf? You just gonna have to deal. I'm not following your orders anymore."

Wolf's expression became infuriated. "You can't just–"

"This isn't an official mission; I can do whatever the hell I please. Sadie's my girlfriend, just like Sabina is Alex's and Jack is Fox's."

If it was any other time Fox would have appropriately blushed and denied the fact that their relationship had progressed that far, but it definitely didn't seem like the right moment to cut in.

"So _we're_ going to save them. You can wait for us in the car."

And with that, Eagle let go of Wolf, who stumbled forward with one hand reaching up to smooth the fabric of his shirt. His dark eyes followed the man's movements furiously, instincts screaming to rise up to the challenge. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't say anything more unless he apologized, and that wasn't something Wolf was willing to do. And it wasn't even about his pride – it was that he really didn't feel sorry for his attitude toward the situation. Eagle and Alex were right, really. It _wasn't_ personal for him. The team came first, and it always would. His unit was his family – of course he would try to protect them.

Eagle paused at the end of the hallway, barking back to the group, "Alex, I don't care what you say, _you_ can't go alone. Fox, you'll take the east wing of the building with him. Snake, you take the west. I'll take the north, since we've already covered most of the south. And Wolf… go home."

Alex spared one last glace at Wolf before following, prepared to turn off at the point he'd been instructed. Fox moved briskly alongside him, although he too gave Wolf a passing glance. Snake avoided eye contact all together as he trailed at the back. And despite everything, all Wolf could do was watch as each of them left him behind. He could hear their footsteps quicken in the distance, shifting from walk to run. Hands dangling limply at his sides, he gazed after them, face emotionless.

_Looks like I'm going to have to reevaluate my options a little._

Wolf groaned.

* * *

o0o0o0o

All the dialogue! I'm sorry. If Wolf seemed like a dick in this chapter, well, I guess I just can't imagine him showing his concern in the touchy-feely kind of way. No tender words from our favorite SAS leader in this fanfic D (well, not directly, at least). As for Tammy, I was surprised that nobody guessed her in the reviews! I saw a lot of guesses for Tom, but that would have broken the combo of girls, hey? Just in the way that it seemed only love interests had been grabbed, I thought it was a little more obvious XD Maybe I'll throw Sarah in the mix, too! (Just kidding, I try to keep low on the OC's ;D).

Oh, and I'm trying something new here: not capitalizing my tags (ie. "Stop!" he said, rather than "Stop!" He said.) Pretty sure it's supposed to be done this way anyhow. I got it I think twice in my reviews, so I'd like to say that I really appreciate the feedback! It's the only way I can grow as a writer, see, or I'll always stay the same. So thanks!

Also, I know this is a late update and I'm sorry about that! Actually, I made this chapter longer (7800 words) because for a while I had a minor case of writers block on it. Veronica (my partner in crime) helped me brainstorm up some ideas, so halla to you, buddy.

A-and, I'd like to thank my family for all their support, and– loljk again. I'm off to Mexico for two weeks now, adios!

**Next chapter:** welcome to your worst nightmare, Wolf.

… You know, I never saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I have no idea why I made that reference. Thanks for reading!


	17. Circles

_Eagle paused at the end of the hallway, barking back to the group, "Alex, I don't care what you say, you can't go alone. Fox, you'll take the east wing of the building with him. Snake, you take the west. I'll take the north, since we've already covered most of the south. And Wolf… go home."_

_Alex spared one last glace at Wolf before following, prepared to turn off at the point he'd been instructed. Fox moved briskly alongside him, although he too gave Wolf a passing glance. Snake avoided eye contact all together as he trailed at the back. And despite everything, all Wolf could do was watch as each of them left him behind. He could hear their footsteps quicken in the distance, shifting from walk to run. Hands dangling limply at his sides, he gazed after them, face emotionless._

Looks like I'm going to have to reevaluate my options a little.

_Wolf groaned._

o0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 17

**Circles**

Alex was nearly at his limit.

The task that was running was one he was beginning to resent very much, as each movement jarred his injured arm and set off a grenade at the back of his skull. He was hiding it well, making sure to try and suppress each wince to the best of his ability and keep any kind of expression off his face. And it was a good thing, too, since Fox was watching him like a hawk. Alex wasn't trailing behind or anything – he kept up with Fox, which worked both with him and against him. It helped to keep up the front that he was perfectly capable of protecting himself and rescuing the girls, but it also made it easier for Fox to spare him little glances out of the corners of his eyes without being too obvious. Alex ground his teeth and tried to ignore it, the thunder outside tearing at his mask, trying desperately to break free. He just wanted to find the girls and get _out_ already.

_Three, two, one…_

"Hey Cub… you okay?"

"Fine," he replied concisely, his eyes making sure not to wander over to Fox's and give away just how uncomfortable he was feeling. It wasn't just the pain, or the thunder roaring outside. It was… something else. He felt uneasy, unbalanced. It took him another minute to figure it out as the pair ran, taking down doors and following each hallway down to the end and back again.

Wolf isn't here anymore.

Perhaps it was the whole "you don't miss it till it's gone" concept; that he hadn't realized just how much the unit leader's presence reassured him until it was ultimately removed. Although it was clear that Wolf wasn't willing to risk himself or any of them for the hostages, he _knew_ Wolf had _his _back – his and everyone else in K-unit's. Having that safety net taken away so violently and abruptly was… unsettling. Like their chances of success had been cut from ten percent down to five. His very skin was crawling with foreboding.

Although it had to have been a good five minutes since Fox had asked, he decided to re-confirm. "You sure?"

Alex didn't answer right away. Then his lips parted and he paused before replying, "Wolf's gone."

He chanced a brief look in Fox's direction, recognizing the understanding just before spinning on his heel and throwing down another door. Nothing. Then he was running again.

"Don't sweat it," Fox said to him. Alex blew a strand of gold out of his face, rolling his eyes at the words. _Right. _

Fox continued. "He'll be back."

That part wasn't as predictable as the first automatic reassurance he'd received from Fox. Alex shot another glance over, only to find that now it was Fox who was turned away from him, kicking open a new door. "How do you know?"

"Are you kidding?" With that question, the obviousness of what Fox said kind of hit him for the first time. Well… of course he'd be back. As if Wolf would leave after getting this far; especially with them still in the building. Hadn't he just been thinking about how the man always had their backs? To leave now would mean to completely contradict that theory. Alex felt like hitting himself – this damn thunder was making his mind fuzzy and inconsistent.

"I guess you're right. I mean… he is Wolf…"

"Yep."

Fox came off as unconcerned, but Alex could tell it wasn't that simple. Similar to Eagle, he didn't outwardly show his apprehension. It was made clear in the tightness of his jaw, the way his eyebrows were knitted together and his forehead was creased. The expression of a warrior.

He asked the question he'd been avoiding asking himself this whole time. "How do you think this will end?"

"Should I tell you what I honestly believe or what I know you want to hear?"

"Tell me what I want to hear, please."

"Who do you think I am, your girlfriend? Fuck you."

"Fox…" he moaned, "That bad, huh?"

"I don't know. I don't want to think about it. How do _you_ think it's gonna end?"

"I don't want to think about it either. I just want to have the answer."

"Easy to say, isn't it? It's nice to dream, Cub, it really is."

"Do you think someone will die?"

Fox's hand twitched as his body slowed, but he kept his face turned away from Alex as he deliberated. Both of them turned around at the same time in order to each take down a door parallel to each other, their feet connected against the wood simultaneously. Once they'd both glanced around and moved back into the hallway, their arms brushing as they turned, Fox caught Alex's gaze. His eyes were blistering.

"No."

"Wait – is that what I want to hear or what you honestly believe?"

"Luckily, it's both. No one will die tonight. Not one of us, anyway. Can't say the same for Capricorn."

"And you_ really_ believe that?"

Fox grinned, taking off down the hallway in a run after throwing after him, "Yeah."

Alex sighed, muttering under his breath,

"Liar."

The turned a corner, facing the final door in the hallway. It was an exit, so the two spun around and began heading back the way they came – only they were stopped with the sound of the double doors opening anyway. Immediately reversing the motion, their eyes widened at what had entered.

"Hello," a man greeted them jovially, his dark eyes shining with glee at the discovery. "You're late, you know."

Alex's eyes moved back over to the doors behind them, making extra sure to keep the weakness that was his broken arm from being detected, "… That's an exit."

"Yes," the man agreed, "yes it is. Good observation, Alex."

Alex scowled. He already knew who he was? Well, that was to be expected, he supposed. "So who are you, then? Did I talk to you on the phone?"

"You did," he explained, gesturing behind him casually, "and these guys were there, too."

Three men, all holding guns aimed at Fox and Alex, nodded. One even smiled, in a creepy, murderous villain kind of way. The whole situation struck Alex as different, to say the least.

"Lower your gun," the kidnapper instructed calmly, and Alex looked down, noticing for the first time that he'd raised it at some point down the line. When had _that _happened? He looked back at the brunette.

"Um, how about no?"

"Lower your gun, Alex, or I really won't hesitate to kill you right now." _Old threats._

"Big _deal._ If you shoot me, then I'll shoot you, and then we'd _both_ die. Would you really risk that?"

"If you shoot me, the hostages all die."

Alex lowered his gun. Slowly the man's dark eyes moved over to Fox, and he raised an eyebrow.

"You too, Terminator."

Fox reluctantly lowered the firearm.

"Okay, are we all done? Can you tell me what you want already?"

"Why Alex, you'd think it'd be obvious to a genius of your caliber. After all, you were able to correctly identify that exit behind me. Do you even need to ask?"

"Stop being so sarcastic," Alex bit back. "It's pissing me off."

"Aren't we the hypocrite," Fox muttered. Alex refused to give him the satisfaction of a glance in his direction, but he did throw him the finger. Fox snickered, their exchange defying the situation's atmosphere completely. The burliest thug coughed awkwardly into his free fist.

"Follow me. I wouldn't try anything if I were you, either, because if I don't get to my destination in five minutes, the instructions are to have all four women killed."

_All _four_ women? Then the other hostage… who _is_ it? _Alex thought, biting his lip. He shrugged and complied, moving behind the three beefy men ready to follow. Fox did the same, though he still had yet to say anything other than the quip from a couple seconds earlier.

As he passed him, Alex patted one of the brutes on the shoulder. "It's okay, we all gotta start small. One day you'll be a great, big crime boss just like the Godfather here."

The ruffian graced Alex with a withering look.

"So," Alex said after a minute of silence passed between the quickly moving group, "you never did answer my question. What do you want with me?"

"Alex, I want to kill you. I thought I made that clear with the whole assassination attempt, car accident thing."

"Well, I suppose. So why go to all this trouble, then? Why not shoot me right now?"

"What exactly are you trying to do here? I'm not a cartoon, Alex, I'm not going to reveal all of my plans to you like some fairytale madman."

"Don't make it sound so farfetched. In my experience, that's the first thing the villains tend to do."

"The villain…" his captor sighed, "as if life's _really _that black-and-white."

"Well, you have kidnapped a bunch of innocent girls. Plus, you just said you want to kill me. Put two and two together, buddy."

"I guess it does look pretty bad," he muttered wearily, biting his thumb. Alex was about to go for the raised-eyebrow approach when one of the thugs bumped into his broken arm, making him wince. Nobody else noticed other than the perpetrator, though, who shot Alex an alarmed look. He'd seen the boy wince, and had realized something wasn't right.

Deciding to experiment, the man grabbed Alex's arm roughly, pulling him forward. Despite his previous shows of self-control, Alex couldn't stop the cry that escaped from his lips when he wrenched the appendage back, automatically pulling it against his chest. He shot the man a guarded look, eyes flickering over to Fox for a second, conveying the message clearly. _And now,_ _we're screwed_.

The dark-haired man leading them half-turned to find out why Alex had stopped – after all, he seemed to have been enjoying their banter. It was probably rare for him to get anyone in other than the usual "you'll never get away with it" rookies. When he saw the boy's posture as well as everyone else's faces, his face fell into a familiar smirk.

"Oh dear," he said, "it seems you didn't get away from our previous attempts as unharmed as you led us to believe."

"Don't flatter yourself," Alex snapped, lowering his arm back to his side now that he'd managed to safely put some space between him and the guard that had caused the damage in the first place. The tall brunette shot him a dark grin – another cliché I'm-In-It-For-The-Sadism-type thugs, it seemed.

"Your arm, correct? What's wrong with it? Is it broken?"

"You sound almost excited. What, you get off on that kind of thing?"

"If I did, you're really in no position to call me on it. You're at even more of a disadvantage than I'd initially thought."

"Guess that'll make it that much more embarrassing for you when I escape," Alex shot back, shaking his head against the haziness clouding his mind and blinking to remove the dots from his vision. Man, he was _so_ screwed. It wasn't even funny anymore.

"Big words for a cripple."

"I'm not _crippled,_" Alex told him. "Just thought I'd offer you a handicap. It'd be no fun if I got away so easily. Gotta fuel my bragging rights for when I'm back home, am I right?"

"You don't you even believe your own words," the leader accused with a laugh, turning around and beginning to walk again. He turned into a corridor, and Alex internally cursed when he noticed it was one that they had yet to hit. Fox and Alex had come to a crossroads earlier on, and had decided to take the left route – a mistake. This all could have been avoided if they'd just gone _right._

Shifting his arm uncomfortably, Alex decided to keep the man talking in hopes of getting some semblance of useful information from the man. "You moved the girls earlier on, didn't you? Why?"

"I thought I already pointed out I don't have to tell you anything."

"Just making small talk."

"Oh, how innocent."

"Look, I'm already cornered, right? Why not humor me? What could I _possibly_ do with that kind of information?"

"If it's small talk you want, you might consider asking about the weather."

The reminder of the storm raging on was really something Alex didn't need. He released a quick sigh under his breath, still fighting the throbbing in his temples. "Lovely weather we're having then, wouldn't you agree?"

"I do love the rain. I was actually born in Canada; we got a lot of rain and instead of getting sick of it like everyone else, I grew more and more fond of it with each new storm."

"What a cool story."

"You sound sarcastic. I'm only making small talk. Isn't this what you wanted?"

Alex gave an impatient sigh. "It's almost been five minutes, Villain A. Shouldn't we hurry it along?"

"There's no rush."

"But you said they'd kill the hostages if you didn't arrive in five minutes."

"Give or take, Alex. What do you think; they're holding their stopwatches in there?"

"I don't judge. Is it the door at the end of this hall?"

"Uh huh."

"… Oh. Thanks, that's probably the most useful thing you've said all evening."

And with that, Alex thrust his elbow back, knocking the wind out of the man directly behind him and, consequently, his gun. Alex caught the firearm while it was still in midair, spinning around and firing a round at the second man. Catching on immediately, Fox followed Alex's example and in a flash had his own guard on the ground, snatching up the gun and shooting the guy while he was still reeling from the first blow. The whole exchange lasted about three and a half seconds, leaving Fox and Alex aiming their guns at the last man while he kept his gun pointed firmly in Alex's direction. They were at a stand-off.

Alex was panting from the exertion of the attack, the fast movements making his vision spin and his arm protest painfully. Fox didn't even break a sweat, shooting Alex a worried look. The dark-haired man that had been talking to Alex the whole time was left unsmiling for the first time since they'd seen him, his black eyes glinting like steel in the flickering light.

"That was unwise, Alex," he snarled, but seemingly out of nowhere he suddenly dropped, landing face-down on the concrete. It took Alex a moment to register the growing pool of blood under his head, as he'd somehow completely missed the gunshot. Fox lowered his still smoking gun, releasing a shaky sigh. _Fox shot him?_ Alex thought dizzily, _When?_

"Man, for a second there I really thought we were done," the man muttered, and Alex laughed in pure relief. How that had managed to go so smoothly he had no clue, but he guessed it had something to do with his insane luck. One second he was convinced there was no way out, and the next he was back on his feet. The fact that they'd gotten as far as they had was a damn miracle.

"Come on," Alex said, "we're not out of the water yet."

Doubtless whoever was guarding the girls inside heard the ruckus in the hall – in fact, it was a serious omen to see the door had yet to open. Increasing their pace, the pair found themselves running to meet the end of the hall, Alex's hand flying out to grab the doorknob.

Moment of truth, and–

The door swung open.

Empty.

Fox stared into the darkness, making out the shapes of boxes and a dusty desk at the back of the room, but other than that… nothing. The girls weren't there, nor was any life present in the space. They'd been tricked; the whole damn thing had been a trap. They were probably planning on locking them in there or something. Alex lashed out with his good fist, slamming it against the wall in fury.

"What _is_ this?" he cried. "We're like mice in a maze! This place is a bloody labyrinth and the girls aren't _anywhere! _Fucking damn it!"

"Cub! This isn't all bad, okay! Wolf and – I mean, Eagle and the others might have found them, right? And we at least took out the big threat."

"You're – I'm… you're right, Fox. I just – we were _so close_–"

Fox could tell Alex was nearly at his breaking point. He was tired, in pain, and things were feeling more and more hopeless. The more time passed the less chance they had in finding the hostages unharmed. In fact, maybe now they should focus on regrouping with the others and discussing their options. There wasn't much left in this part of the building they hadn't hit already, anyway.

"Look, we'll find everyone else and–"

"Fox! Cub!"

The aforementioned men spun around upon hearing their names called, spotting Wolf at the end of the hall just behind their fallen captors. He'd placed his hands on his knees and was now hunched over and panting hard, his breath coming in short huffs. After a moment he squeezed his dark eyes shut and glanced back at them, giving them a shaky grin.

"Any luck?"

Fox looked visibly relieved at seeing Wolf – a little of the tension in his shoulders disappeared, while his eyes lit up at the sight of their leader. "Wolf!"

Wolf smiled wider upon seeing Fox's enthusiasm. "Miss me, did you?"

Alex remained stoic, his eyes flickering over Wolf's heaving figure. He wouldn't admit how much Wolf's presence made him feel better out loud, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if it was better in the long run this way. Eagle hadn't just been rambling back there – unless Wolf was really committing himself to this, without anymore pussyfooting around the idea of an easy rescue, he would only serve to hold him back. Wolf straightened and began walking towards them, stepping over the bodies on the floor without even glancing down at them. His eyes locked with Alex's.

"Cub," he acknowledged, a little wary of the hard look Alex was sending him. Alex crossed his arms.

"I thought you left."

"I never intended to leave; Eagle was the one who threw a bitchfit."

"You're not helping your situation here Wolf."

"I…" Wolf rubbed the back of his head, his eyes breaking away from Alex's in order to examine the blood spatter on the walls. "I get it. I get it."

"You get what?" It wasn't that Alex didn't know what he was talking about – he just needed to hear him say it. Wolf shot him a disgruntled look.

"Eagle was… right. I wasn't taking this seriously. Now I am."

Fox rolled his eyes at Wolf's usual lack of grace. Alex paused, considering the words, but conceded shortly after, turning away from the man. "Apology accepted."

"I never apologized."

"Wolf, shut your face." Fox pinched the bridge of his nose. Wolf opened his mouth to say something else, but just then a large amount of static erupted from the transmitter at Alex's side.

"–_ouble-O-Nothing, come in, Double-O-Noth–"_

Fox snatched up the device from Alex without a word before raising it to his lips and speaking quickly. "Eagle? Hello?"

"_I've found Jack. Roger,"_

"That's not where you say Roger, Eagle," Wolf complained in a quiet mutter from a couple feet away. Fox ignored him, trying to force to man to get serious. His knuckles were turning white from how tight his grip was on the transmitter.

"Where are you?"

"_Hey, Fox! Can we get pizza for dinner tonight? Copy that."_

"Eagle, just – do you have a visual at least?" Fox's voice was strained as he worked to keep his tone steady and neutral.

"_Over and out," _Eagle's static-y voice grated through the speakers.

"Eagle!" Fox cried finally.

"_I have a visual,"_ Eagle explained a second later, _"'cause I'm in the vents. No, seriously."_

"Who else do you see?"

"_Well, there's a bunch of guards,"_ he replied, _"maybe about six men total? Jack is the only hostage there. I've got good news, though. The rest of them are safe."_

Fox's eyes widened, while Alex's gaze flickered up to fix on the speaker. Everyone but Jack? That was better than they could have dared to hope for. Even Wolf perked up at his words.

"How?" the man asked gruffly. There was a pause, and then,

"… _Wolf? That you?"_

Wolf gazed down at his feet intently, his mouth set in a firm line. "I'm here."

"… '_Kay. But for the record, I'm still mad at you."_

"Copy that," Wolf echoed sarcastically, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. "So how'd the girls escape?"

He could practically see Eagle smiling on the other side. _"Isn't it obvious, Wolf? The vents! Through the vents! How did we not think of that one?"_

There was a pause, then an awkward cough. Fox leaned towards the transmitter, opened his mouth, hesitated, and then asked, "The… vents?"

"Right? _That's where I got the idea! See, I was running down the hall when I heard voices. So I opened the nearest door and got ready to shoot when they were closer, but then I heard Jack's voice. She was yelling, would you believe it?"_

"And then?" Wolf pressed on, also reaching out to hover over the speaker.

"_And then I got curious so I pushed up the blinds to look through the tiny window in the door – you know the one? I don't get why they bother with those, it just seems kind of pointle–"_

"Eagle," Wolf growled.

"… _And I caught Jack's eye by pure chance. I was only squinting through, barely visible, but somehow she spotted me and the three guys holding her at gunpoint didn't. So one of the guys asks, 'where are the others?' and Jack says, 'Long gone. Nice job, by the way. Guarding, I mean.'"_

Wolf slapped his hand over his face while Fox shook his head. "She _would_ antagonize them. Alex had to have gotten it from somewhere."

"_Yeah!"_ Eagle agreed cheerfully. Clearly Sadie's newly confirmed safety had taken a heavy weight off his shoulders, even if there was still one hostage left. _"When she said that to the guards, she looked back at me, and then glanced up. So I glanced up, and guess what was there?"_

"An air vent," Wolf breathed.

"_Correctomundo, commander."_

"So where exactly are you?" Fox asked tightly, quite obviously done with explanations and ready for the counterattack.

"Go north. They're in the room with all the boxes."

Fox waited for the _badum tshh_. After a couple seconds, he sighed and asked again, "Can I get a room number, please?"

"168. It's a huge room – warehouse-ish, kinda. Hard to miss. Double doors."

"What are the guards doing?" Wolf pressed.

"They're just kinda – pacing. They look stressed. I heard some of them talking – they're panicked because now Jack's the only one they have left to threaten us with. That's good, because it means they won't kill her."

Wolf sent a sideways glanced at Alex, noting the way his half-lidded eyes drifted listlessly over the linoleum. He hadn't said much over the entire exchange – Wolf absently noted the rumbling of thunder overhead and the sharp, cutting sound of the pouring rain against the metal roof of the single story building. His eyes fell to catch a drop of blood slip off the tip of his finger and hit the floor, where it joined two other who'd already met the tiles. He was bleeding? Well, of course he was.

Wolf studied Alex intently, who'd zoned out to the point where his eyes were completely blank. "Cub," he growled. No response.

"Cub!" he tried again a little louder, drawing Fox's attention away from the transmitter to Wolf, and then over to Alex, whose still body swayed a little.

"… Hey, you okay?" Fox asked in a murmur, reaching out and touching Alex's shoulder. _That_ got his attention, as the teenager flinched before automatically flinging himself away from Fox, stumbling a little. He stared at the pair, about a foot or two away now, who stared back, until Wolf finally said,

"Still with us, Cub?"

Alex's light brown eyes, gold in the dim lighting, met with Wolf's again. "Yeah," he breathed. "Where are we going now?"

Wolf and Fox exchanged looks. Fox was the next to speak. "There's only one hostage left."

Alex narrowed his eyes. "I got that part, thanks."

Wolf recognized the guarded way he'd said it, though. He wasn't trying to be annoying, he was trying to be convincing, and with Alex, the difference meant miles. "Who is it?"

Alex frowned, and the sound of the lights buzzing with crackling energy was the only thing that could be heard in the otherwise silent corridor. Fox shifted on his feet. "Cub,"

"Jack," Alex snapped, "Jack's the final hostage. Eagle just told us that. I didn't hear where he told us to go, that's all."

Wolf was back to examining the blonde in front of him, evaluating how bad the damage was while Fox did the same, biting his lip in nervousness. Alex glanced between them before scowling sourly. "Stop staring at me, I'm fine. I just spaced out for a second."

"Bit of an understatement," Fox muttered, arching an eyebrow at the boy. Alex had the good grace to hold up his middle finger to the soldier while Wolf silently continued to watch him, as if waiting for some kind of indicator. After another moment, he said suddenly,

"I think you should sit this one out, Cub."

Alex didn't even pretend to believe him. In fact, he laughed. "Wolf? _Make_ me. This is Jack; pretty sure I'm coming."

Wolf glared at him. "Look at yourself. You've done well, so don't feel bad about stepping down now. You have to recognize you're at your limit."

"Look," Alex cut him off, "I know I don't look great. I–" he raised a hand when he saw Wolf's mouth open to interject, correcting himself patiently, "I'm _not_ great. But this is the last hostage run; we finally _know_ where we're going. All you guys will be there too. And If I leave now, I won't have done a single thing. This is where the real rescuing is happening! To force me to stay out of it would be cruel."

Wolf's lip curled. "Tough. You're hurt; you're going to say anything right now. We've got this, alright?"

Alex's temper flared at the way he was being brushed off. "Are you serious? No! I'm _going!_ This whole thing was _my _fault, anyway! I won't let you guys do this unless I'm with you every step of the way!"

"This isn't just about you anymore, Cub!" Wolf shot back, "Besides, everybody's gotten away now! There's only a single person left! Just let us handle things for once! _For once!"_

"It's _Jack,"_ Alex repeated. "You wouldn't force Eagle to stay back with a broken arm if it was Sadie, would you? He wouldn't let you. Jack's – Jack's my _family._ She's all I've got left."

"Jack's not going to die," Wolf said, but his voice was a little quieter. Perhaps Alex's desperate face _was_ affecting him. He wasn't _completely_ heartless, even if he liked to pretend (and make it convincing).

"I just can't leave that kind of thing in someone else's hands, you know? I need to be there. She's going to be rescued either way, so it shouldn't even be an issue."

"That's _not_ the issue!"

Fox glanced over at Wolf. "I really don't think you're going to win this, Wolf."

"Don't tell me you're taking his side," Wolf said in disapproval, sending Fox a dark look. Fox had the decency to look abashed.

"I'm not taking sides, but even if you did decide to force him not to come, what are you going to do? Knock him out? We can't really stop him. Not like this is an official mission…"

"Fox…" Wolf ground out. "Look at the kid. He's in no condition to–"

"Just humor him then," Fox conceded. "He doesn't have to do anything; we can do everything before he even gets a chance. We'll be in an out. He just wants to come."

"You make me sound like your annoying little brother," Alex murmured mirthlessly, looking down at his feet. Fox half-smiled.

"Sounds about right."

Alex's chin snapped up to look at the man in bewilderment, but Fox was already turning back to Wolf. He wasn't sure if Fox had any idea of the weight the words he had just uttered carried. "Wolf?"

"_Fine,"_ Wolf conceded in a huff, throwing his hands up into the air and turning towards the North exit. "Fine! Come with us then! _Get_ yourself killed! See if_ I_ give a flying fuck!"

A smile spread over Alex's face. All that big talk aside, he was really glad Fox had stepped in and convinced Wolf to at least tolerate his presence. Catching up with the man, he used his good arm and flung it over Wolf's shoulders, leaning in with a cheeky grin. "Oh, don't even try to pretend you don't love me."

"If you haven't died by the end of this, I'm going to kill you myself," Wolf grumbled, shoving Alex off of him as the teenager laughed. Fox, still standing a couple feet behind the pair, smiled in relief. That noise chipped away at some of the tension still tight in his muscles.

As long as Alex was still laughing, he couldn't bring himself to believe that things were completely hopeless yet.

o0o0o0o

* * *

So I have two things to apologize in this author's note. One: last chapter in the "next chapter" teaser, I said "Wolf's worst nightmare", but I ended up having to cut this chapter in two because it was too long and now that portion is in the second half. But the second half isn't done either, so I really wanted to post this one since I'm so late with this update anyway. Which brings me to my second point: the severe lateness of this chapter. Yeah… I'm really sorry. After Mexico, some heavy stuff happened to me and well, it's kind of detailed so if you're _really_ mad and want a full explanation for why I haven't written much in the past two months, message me or whatever. I don't wanna spam up this note with my drama. Can't you just forgive me for posting this chapter, even if there isn't any major action in it? Lots of banter though. Banter is good.

I'll try and be on time with my next update. It's twenty-eleven now, huh? Whoa! Kinda late on that one, though… Lol, at the scene where Alex and Fox escape from their captors, Owl City started playing off my iTunes :P I was like haha, those guards were shot to the sound of _Hot Air Balloon._

But anyway! I'd like to say a big thanks for the reviews, I was rereading them today and they inspired me to get up and polish off a new chapter for release. You're all so great!

**Next chapter:** Wolf's worst nightmare, for real this time.

P.S. Breached 100k words! Can I get a woot woot? How about a FUCK YEAH? Fuckyeaahhhh! Now if only I can hit 400 reviews with this... _so close..._


	18. Nightmare

"_**Fine,**__" Wolf conceded in a huff, throwing his hands up into the air and turning towards the North exit. "Fine! Come with us then! __**Get**__ yourself killed! See if__** I**__ give a flying fuck!"_

_A smile spread over Alex's face. All that big talk aside, he was really glad Fox had stepped in and convinced Wolf to at least tolerate his presence. Catching up with the man, he used his good arm and flung it over Wolf's shoulders, leaning in with a cheeky grin. "Oh, don't even try to pretend you don't love me."_

"_If you haven't died by the end of this, I'm going to kill you myself," Wolf grumbled, shoving Alex off of him as the teenager laughed. Fox, still standing a couple feet behind the pair, smiled in relief. That noise chipped away at some of the tension still tight in his muscles._

_As long as Alex was still laughing, he couldn't bring himself to believe that things were completely hopeless yet._

o0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 18

**Nightmare**

Before taking off, Wolf decided to inform Snake of the recent events. Their conversation revealed that Snake had gotten into a fight and lost his gun, and was forced to hide until someone walked past the room he was stashed away in. After jumping the man and jacking his automatic, Snake had turned around and begun retracing his steps, having secured his part of the building without much fault beyond the initial scuffle. He was meeting them outside the Room of Truth, as Eagle had taken to referring it as.

They travelled north for about eight minutes before the numbers finally became relevant. Looking down the approaching hallway, Wolf mentally identified the doors: one-sixty, one-sixty-two, one-sixty-four, one-sixty-six … and at the end of the hall, one-sixty-eight. There was the pair of double doors Eagle had described, so now the three of them paused and formed a huddle behind the corner. They were waiting on Snake now.

"According to Eagle, there were six men guarding Jack before the other three showed up. That's nine total now. There are five of us, so I think we could take 'em, but we need a plan. Anybody got any bright ideas?"

Fox switched his weight onto his left foot, causing his elbow to lightly bump into Alex's broken arm by accident. Alex gave a tiny jump before Wolf's question registered to him, and he slowly opened his mouth to speak. "Well… if I go in first–"

"Not happening," Wolf coughed inconspicuously, and Alex frowned.

"At least listen to what I have to say first!"

"How about you stay outside the door and keep watch? That's an important job."

Alex rolled his eyes. "You're treating me like a child!"

"No I'm not! What if more guards arrive? We're gonna need you to have our backs."

"Wolf," Fox snapped, "you said he could come, now hear him out."

Wolf fell silent, granting them a temporary emission from his ramblings. Alex cleared his throat and with a meaningful look at Wolf, continuing, "_As I was saying,_ if I go in there first with my hands up, they won't shoot. I'll say something like I want to do a trade. One of you guys can come with me, to follow the story, and say you'll be taking Jack and leaving me with them. Both of you guys would be too suspicious. I think at this point they'll take that deal with little hesitation, since they've lost most of their leverage. It would be even better to pretend like we didn't know the others have escaped yet… no, that wouldn't work. Anyway, Fox or Wolf, the second your hands close around Jack's arms, I will take that as my cue to start fighting. You start shooting, and the other two can burst in through the doors and start helping. Everything will depend on the element of surprise; we won't leave here unharmed unless everybody in that room other than Jack dies today, got it?"

"That sounds like the stupidest, riskiest, most dangerous plan I've ever heard in my life," Wolf grunted.

"It isn't foolproof, I know…" Alex trailed off, blinking once, then blinking harder again and shaking his head slightly. Wolf's eyebrows creased, and he opened his mouth but was cut off when he heard footsteps behind him. Spinning around, he spotted Snake just as the man slapped a hand on his back, knocking a surprised "oof!" out of him.

"How's it going, fellas?" Snake greeted jovially. Fox and Alex smiled at his entrance, relieved to see their medic friend.

"We've just about got a plan worked out. I figure if we radio Eagle and relay everything to him, we can have him follow our cue and kick open the vent with some open fire at the same time. You ready to rescue Jack, Snake?" Fox asked.

"Pretty much," Snake confirmed. Wolf nodded his head to Snake in acknowledgment of his presence before fishing out the transmitter again. However, at that moment, the one at Snake's side crackled into life.

"_Paging Dr. Faggot… Dr. Faggot–"_

"Eagle," Snake spoke clearly into the walkie-talkie, "I'm outside room one-sixty-eight with the rest of the guys. We've got a plan if you want to hear it."

Static followed before Eagle's voice once again split over the speakers. "_I don't know, Snake. I'm having a pretty good time just sitting here watching Jack insult these guys. She's got a really colorful vocabulary, bet you didn't know."_

Wolf broke in with the instructions on what to do. Once everybody was sure of their role in the coming rescue, Alex stepped forward flanked by Wolf. He'd insisted he be the one to go in with Alex first.

"Ready?" Alex muttered, looking up at his leader. Wolf flipped safety off his handgun, glancing over at Alex. "When you are," he replied.

Alex took a deep breath and nodded before Wolf placed his hands against the handles and pushed forward, throwing the two doors open.

Ten pairs of eyes immediately sought them out, and some shouting in a foreign language was heard until it was cut off by one voice.

"Shut up, shut up! _Be silent!"_

All of the guards were quiet after that, though each one had their guns pointed at Alex and Wolf. Finally, the man who had shouted gave a sneer. "You killed Collins," he accused, and Alex and Wolf exchanged looks. Wolf shrugged. They'd killed a lot of people that day; he'd have to do better than a name.

"Er," Alex scratched the top of his head sheepishly, "which one was that again?"

He had an American accent. "Like you don't know. Finally going to give yourself up, Alex Rider?"

Alex tensed. "We're going to do a trade," he said carefully. "Me for her."

He gestured at Jack, whose eyes widened. "Alex, no–"

She was cut off by the American man once more. "So that's why you have come with your little body guard, then? You are slightly outnumbered, Rider. And it's a little late for negotiations."

"Well…"

Paling, the man watched as Alex pulled out his gun and slowly raised it to his own head. Wolf started, unprepared for the sudden demonstration.

"Here's the deal. Either you take me and she leaves, or we both die, and you get nothing." Wolf was going to kill him if he wasn't bluffing.

"I get you dead," he pointed out sensibly.

"But that's not what you really want, is it?" Alex asked with a wry smile. And if the man's silence was anything to go by, Alex was right. Grudgingly, he turned around, fixing the men behind him with a resentful glare.

"Untie the girl."

Jack looked alarmed, glancing between Alex and Wolf for some form of reassurance. She received none. "Hey – let _go_ of me – I won't go! I won't–"

It took two men to drag Jack over to where Wolf was waiting. The leader beckoned Alex over, who moved towards him without looking back at Jack, despite the fact that she was practically screaming at him. "Alex, _stop! You can't make me go–"_

As soon as Wolf's hand closed around Jack's arm, he pulled her behind him and whipped out his gun, taking out the two closest to him in an instant. Alex immediately did the same, killing one man and watching as another dropped, spying Eagle in the corner of his eye smash the vent hiding him open and begin shooting. Snake and Fox had kicked in the doors and were shooting, but everything was happening too fast, and suddenly Fox cried out and dropped his gun, leaving him vulnerable. Wolf was just beginning to turn around in order to assess the damage when he felt the cool metal of a gun pressed to his temple, followed by the furious shriek of "NOBODY MOVE!"

Wolf's breath hitched as he froze, gun still held loosely in his hand. Everything in the room had stopped the moment the man had shouted, and for a moment everybody just stared at Wolf's statuesque form. The silence was abruptly broken by a gunshot, and the gun at Wolf's head fell away as the man holding it crumpled. Wolf's dark eyes flew over to meet Alex's narrowed brown ones before flickering just behind him. He had just enough time to open his mouth and scream, _"NO!" _before another gunshot rung in the air.

The whole room erupted into action, but Wolf could barely hear it. He tore forward, tripping over a fallen guard in the process and smacking his head on the concrete beneath him. His world spinning, Wolf struggled to remain coherent, vision only enabling him to see Alex's feet, and the American's black boots behind him.

Too many gunshots shook the room to identify where each one came from. He blacked out, and it seemed only a second later somebody was shaking him. Wolf felt… hot. He managed a croak, and opened his eyes to see a peach blob with gold fuzz focus into Alex before his eyes. His mouth was moving, and it seemed like he might have been yelling, but Wolf was having a hard time hearing him over the ringing in his ears.

" – olf! WOLF, _GET UP!"_

"…Cub?" Everything tilted as Wolf was pulled to his feet, but stumbled when his support faltered beneath him. Mind still foggy, Wolf struggled to remember where he was. He knew now why it was so hot – the room was on fire. Flames had spread over the crates occupying the large space, casting shadows beneath the bodies scattered across the floor. He had to yet recognize any of them, and this was reassuring for some reason. God, what was he _doing_ here?

"Cub," he mumbled again, just because the name was floating around at the top of his head. He heard a grunt, and turned his head to see his support take another shaky step forward, Wolf's arm fastened firmly around his neck.

"Yeah," the blonde whispered. Cub. Alex. He was here. He looked horrible.

"Y'kay?" Wolf slurred. Cub had to pause for a moment, legs trembling before he could take another step. Wolf's mind was slowly clearing, and he pulled his arm out of Alex's grasp without any resistance. As soon as his weight was removed, Alex collapsed, landing hard on his knees. Wolf dropped to catch him before he completely pitched forward, suddenly aware of the danger they were both in.

"Cub–" with a quick intake of breath, he remembered where he was. The warehouse. The trade. And then – well, there were no more gunshots sounding, but he could hear some faint shouting behind him. That wasn't his concern right now, though. Alex had finally run out of energy, he guessed.

"Hey," Wolf tried to rouse him. Alex's head rose a little, ragged breathing quick and uneven, and tried to smile.

"Success," he breathed, his dull eyes gold in the firelight. Seeing them, Wolf realized something was wrong. Something was _really wrong._

"Cub – hey, Cub, Jesus, stay awake for five seconds, would you?" Wolf's eyes roamed over him. "Oh, God, I'm gonna have to carry you, aren't I?"

"Don't try it," Alex hissed.

Wolf gazed across the room, barely hearing Alex's response. The exit… it was blocked. Part of the roof had caved, completely obscuring the double doors from view. Wolf peered up; he had a good view of the gray sky, and was able to conclude it was still raining. Hard. In fact, this was officially a good thing, since it was helping to put out the fire, or at least preventing it from spreading too far.

"How long was I out?"

When he received no response, Wolf asked again, a little more forceful this time. "_How long was I out for, Cub?"_

"Five minutes," Alex provided after another long pause.

"Shit, what the hell happened?"

Silence. Wolf looked down at Alex's white face, and his stomach dropped. His eyes had closed.

Wolf dropped to his knees, placing Alex back down on the concrete. Shit. He smacked Alex over the head, trying to rouse the boy again. "Cub, wake the fuck up. You're not sleeping right now."

He realized then just how bad things were. The rest of the guys must have gotten out just before the ceiling caved, and he had no choice but to wait until they opened a path. If he'd only been out for five minutes, then they should be rescued any second now – after all, K-unit had come with grenades, they'd just…

"Left them in the car…" Wolf breathed. That drew things out a little. It could be ten or fifteen minutes before they returned with the means of freeing Wolf and Alex, and he wasn't sure if Alex could wait that long without medical attention. Feeling panic bubble up in his throat again, Wolf made no move to push it down, hands clamping down on Alex's shoulders as he leaned in and began shaking the blonde. This couldn't happen.

"Cub, fuck, you need to _wake up_," he said impatiently. Glancing down, he placed a hand around Alex's broken arm and started to tighten his grip. Alex started to squirm beneath him a little, and finally his eyes fluttered open again. He whimpered, and Wolf immediately let go, feeling guilt for the action despite the fact that it had been necessary. Alex couldn't pass out. Wolf wouldn't let him.

Through the haze of terror clouding his mind, Wolf realized that basic first aid might help. Shrugging off his coat, Wolf tore off one of the sleeves without remorse before picking up Alex's arm. By tearing the sleeve a little more, he managed to maneuver it into a makeshift sling for the boy. Alex moaned while Wolf was shifting his arm around, prompting the man's quiet murmurs of "I know, Cub, I know," but other than that he was able to provide no lucid input. This was around the time that Wolf began to think he might have missed something. Before this, Alex had been fine to fire a gun. Now, he wasn't even able to form a sentence against Wolf's jostling of his broken arm. How had things gotten that bad in the span of five minutes…?

Unless…

Wolf's mind ran rampant with the possibilities, jolting him into action. He dragged Alex toward the wall, propping him up against the surface before beginning his evaluation. He hadn't hit his head, as Wolf couldn't feel any bumps while he ran his hands through the boy's hair. Working down from there, Wolf unzipped the kid's jacket, catching his first glimpse of red.

Of course, his dark jacket had hidden it before, but the white shirt he wore underneath did nothing to conceal the crimson staining the fabric. Mind going blank, Wolf peeled away the rest of the jacket to finally reveal the wound in his side. Alex had been shot. How had he not known that? _He'd been shot._

"Oh, God. _No_. Oh, Christ," Wolf began to swear, paralyzed. They weren't going to be rescued for a while. Alex was barely conscious.

Cub could… Alex could _die._

That thought alone torpedoed Wolf into action. He snatched up his coat and tore off the other sleeve before pressing it against the wound, feeling it quickly begin to soak up the flow of blood. He bunched up the rest to place under Alex's feet, elevating them just as he'd been trained to do. Then he moved back closer to Alex, feeling the need to get him talking again.

"Cub," Wolf said, voice sounding stronger than he felt, "open your eyes. That's an order."

Somehow, these words translated in Alex's mind and the blonde drowsily managed to crack open his eyelids. He fixed his unfocused gaze on Wolf, awaiting further instruction.

"Stay awake," he ordered. Alex's mouth quirked upward as he gave a shuddering breath.

"You're so bossy," he sighed, head rolling to the side. Wolf leaned his shoulder against the wall, feeling the slightest sliver of relief at his words. At least he was talking to him.

"Yeah," Wolf breathed with a forced smile, hands shaking as they pressed into the blood-soaked bundle at Alex's side. "I know. I have to be, to get your lazy ass in motion."

"Hey," Alex protested weakly. "… Wait… did you just agree to be… being b-bossy?"

"Yeah," Wolf said again. Alex's voice was getting quieter, so Wolf plowed on, determined to keep him talking until K-unit caught up with them. "I did."

Alex hesitated, sucking in another ragged breath. Then he asked, "What's wrong?"

It was then that Wolf realized the kid probably had no idea what was going on. His mind was probably sluggish with endorphins. "Nothing," Wolf whispered, momentarily shutting his eyes. This was bad. This was _so, so bad._ He'd never felt so useless in his life.

Even in his current state, Alex could tell Wolf was lying. He struggled to sit up, breathing in sharply and falling back against the wall as Wolf scrambled to keep him there. "You can't move," Wolf told him, his grip on Alex's shoulders a little too tight. Alex's eyes reflected surprise and apprehension at the seriousness Wolf was displaying. Shockingly, the next thing Wolf spied there was acceptance.

"That bad, huh?" Alex murmured, looking down. Wolf shook his head.

"No. It's not as bad as it looks. Help is on the way, Cub."

Alex's shallow breathing seemed to mock his words. The tension in the air was palpable. Abruptly, Alex let out a dry chuckle, breaking out into a harsh coughing fit near the end. Wolf watched him, eyes wide with helplessness. "You're a terrible liar," he whispered when it was over, finishing it with a groan as his hand passed over his wound. He held it up, inspecting the blood painting his palm with a grim look.

"I'm guessing we're trapped," Alex said, voice so uncharacteristically soft. "Or else you'd be running around like a chicken with its head cut off by now."

Wolf clenched his teeth. "K-unit knows we're here. They'll come back for us once they've got the means to break through the rubble."

"Roof collapse?" Alex guessed.

"Yeah," Wolf said, once more allowing his mind the tiniest bit of respite now that their conversation was flowing so smoothly again. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Alex passed out before they were rescued. Alex's harsh panting was almost reassuring – after all, at least he _was_ breathing.

When Alex fell silent, Wolf pushed on. "How are you feeling?"

Alex's gaze flickered up to meet his, his predictably sarcastic reply clear: _how do you think?_ Wolf didn't look away, awaiting a response despite the answer being obvious. Alex complied.

"Not good."

At this, memories flitted through Wolf's head, reminding him of something. He gave a brief, fleeting smile. "You know, I think that's the first time you've ever said that."

"Huh?"

"'Not good'. Up until now, it's always been 'fine'. Don't act like you don't do it on purpose."

Alex looked away. "S'not like you'd believe me if I said anything else. I-I'm b-bleeding…"

Wolf's eyes narrowed with alarm when he heard the blonde stutter. He had to force the warning bells out of his mind to keep himself from panicking. "Hey," he rumbled, fingers curling into the bundle held against Alex's side. "You're gonna be fine, you know."

"No…" Alex breathed, gazing up at the open roof and into the dark sky. "I don't think so."

Wolf's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch. "What? How can you say that? It's just a bullet wound. Cub, you've survived worse!"

"Wolf," Alex mumbled, interrupting him as though he hadn't heard a word he'd just said. "I'm really c-cold."

Anger seized the place where Wolf was currently scrambling to shove down his fear. "Shut up," he snapped, pressing closer to the teen as if trying to transfer warmth. "You're going to be perfectly okay. You'll go to the hospital and they'll stab you with a bunch of needles and you'll be back in your bed by the end of next week, got it?"

His words sounded empty even to his own ears.

"No," Alex said again. Wolf's face twisted. How could Alex speak so hopelessly? If he himself couldn't even believe he'd make it through this in one piece, then what the hell was _Wolf_ supposed to do?

"Listen," Wolf growled, "'cause I'm only gonna say this once. Since you first moved in with me, I can safely say I haven't always been there for you. But – but you've _always_ been there for _me._ Don't stop now."

Wolf's voice actually _broke _near the end, but he couldn't bring himself to feel embarrassed about it. If he was gonna give into things like that at this point, he'd have to take back the entire admission. Alex blinked up at him, making Wolf think twice about confessing a thing like that out loud. He wasn't one to speak his emotions often, but saying it aloud reminded him of how utterly true the words really were. And – Wolf's fists clenched around the tatters of his jacket – Wolf couldn't even keep him safe on _one_ mission. That was twice now he'd watched the kid get shot, and it _wasn't fair._

Alex's lips quirked up into a cheerless smile. "I should die more often," he joked in a breathless whisper. It had the opposite effect on Wolf, who snarled, "You're not _fucking dying!"_

Alex began to close his eyes. Heart hammering in his chest, Wolf slapped Alex's cheek, trying to draw him back into wakefulness. "Open your god damned eyes!" he barked, hitting him again. Alex's brown eyes opened again, and one trembling hand came up to snatch up Wolf's, causing him to freeze.

"Stop," Alex muttered. "I can't…"

"Cub!" Wolf snapped, "You have to stay awake until we…"

Wolf's eyes wandered down before he gave a startled gasp. While he'd been talking to Alex, he'd assumed the wound was clotting. Only now did he realize they were sitting in a pool of blood.

Wolf made a strangled sound. Alex's eyes began to slip closed again. Wolf couldn't get himself to stop shaking.

"Cub, _stay awake!_ You gotta – please – I can't–" Alex had never seen their normally composed leader look so distraught. His eyes were wild as they flickered over Alex's weakening form. Seizing Alex's shirt in his hands, he violently yanked him upright, bringing them face to face.

"I'm not going to let you die!" Wolf roared, glaring so furiously that the boy's breath hitched. "I _won't!"_

"I…"

"Stay with me, please! _Please!"_

But Alex's eyes had turned glassy and unfocused. His lips moved as he mouthed something at Wolf, but his voice had abandoned him and Wolf could feel him go limp. Wolf's fingernails were digging into Alex's arms, most likely drawing blood, though it was impossible to distinguish from the rest of it.

He was losing him. He couldn't keep him awake. Alex lost consciousness over Wolf's desperate screams.

"_Alex!"_

There was an explosion, and Wolf's head whipped around to see Snake appear through the smoke first, followed by Eagle. Snake was shouting at him, and Eagle had just broken out into a run when Wolf leaned down to pull Alex into his arms. He unsteadily got back to his feet, aching arms very mindful of the deadweight, but Wolf couldn't be bothered to notice things as superficial as that. Snake's alarmed expression quickly morphed into horror when he got close enough to really see the damage. If it wasn't in Wolf's stricken face, it was in Alex's red-soaked shirt.

"Fuck!" Eagle swore when he closed in next to them. All he really needed to see was Wolf's trembling hands to know Alex's wound wasn't a light one. "He _was_ shot! I thought I – but Fox kept telling me–"

"Fox only said that to reassure you," Snake snapped impatiently. "Help me get him out of Wolf's hands."

Wolf's grip wordlessly tightened around the body in his arms. Alex's scarily pale complexion betrayed no emotion. He looked like he'd merely gone down for a nap. "No," Wolf growled.

"Wolf," Snake said softly, his voice much calmer than anything Wolf could have mustered at that moment. It was exactly what he needed. "You need to give him to me. I can help him. We have to go and get Cub to a hospital."

"Is the car outside?"

Snake nodded. "We had to drive back in the truck and get everything from the car, but we're here now, aren't we? We'll speed to the hospital. It isn't far."

Wolf brushed past Snake on his way toward the door. Eagle stopped him with a hand on his arm. His blue eyes were heavy.

"Wolf," he said, "… you've done enough. Pass him to me."

Wolf's eyes narrowed. The two gazed wordlessly at each other for a few moments until they seemed to come to some kind of silent understanding. With a reluctant nod, Wolf maneuvered Alex into Eagle's hold before the lack of purpose suddenly hit him and his knees buckled. Snake was there to catch him.

"Fox is in the car with Jack," he explained quietly in Wolf's ear, draping the man's arm around his neck and beginning to move forward. Wolf had regained his footing, but he didn't pull away from Snake, and his eyes didn't leave Alex's lifeless form.

It was easy after that. They made it to the car in under a minute, painfully aware of every second that slipped by. When Jack caught sight of Alex, she screamed. Snake winced, and Wolf's eyes travelled to the ground without a word. Fox's eyes widened the moment he saw Eagle approach, immediately surging forward to grab Jack. She struggled, shouting at him, but Eagle only spared her a short glance as he passed. Then he was climbing into the back of the huge truck, closely followed by Wolf. As soon as the two were inside, Fox released Jack and she quickly scrambled in after them. Snake placed a hand on Fox's arm, nodding towards the driver's seat. He complied, while Snake closed the back after he'd climbed inside. Jack had clearly been instructed by someone – maybe Wolf, but more likely Eagle – to press the now-soaked bundle into Alex's side, if only to keep her busy, since there were tears streaming down her cheeks.

Snake came up next to her while the truck rumbled to a start and immediately took off, speeding down the streets toward the hospital. He started checking Alex's vitals, pulling off his own jacket as a new compress. While Snake tended to Alex and Jack ran her fingers through his hair, Eagle took the time to look at Wolf.

The man's eyes were flat, though his unease was made obvious in the way he kept looking between Alex and Snake every few seconds. While Snake kept his expression closed so as not to panic anyone, as he always did when treating patients, Wolf couldn't help but search for clues in the medic's face anyway. Eagle bit his lip, and then hesitantly whispered,

"It's not your fault."

Slowly, Wolf's eyes drifted up to meet Eagle's. He didn't offer any kind of verbal response. It wasn't difficult to tell that he didn't agree, however. Eagle shook his head, still speaking gently "He'll be okay."

Wolf's eyes narrowed. He finally spoke, jerking his chin toward Alex. "_He_ didn't seem to think so."

Eagle sucked in a breath. "Was he panicking?" he asked in a hushed tone, seeming almost afraid of the answer.

Wolf sneered, and Eagle recognized the defense mechanism right away. "Yeah, right. That would have been _better._"

Eagle frowned, eyebrows knitting together at his leader's reply. "What… happened while we were gone? What do you remember, Wolf?"

Wolf's shoulders heaved as he released a tense breath. It appeared he had to consciously concentrate on recalling the memories. " Someone was pressing a gun to my head. Then the guy was shot, and I was free, but things get kind of dark after that. I remember running, and tripping. And hitting my head. And then Alex was waking me up and the room was on fire and you guys… you guys were gone. I hadn't realized he'd been _shot._" The scene was much clearer in his mind now than earlier. Alex had been the one to take out the man holding Wolf hostage.

Still, no emotion was betrayed in Wolf's dark eyes. He continued to watch Alex's prone form intently, his whole body rigid. Eagle waited, because it seemed as though Wolf was going to continue, but he'd given up speaking and had gone back to sitting slightly hunched in the darkness of the truck without a word. They could hear the rain spattering down atop the roof of the truck. It was Snake's hushed, urgent voice that broke the silence a moment later.

"You guys, he's stopped breathing!"

Before anyone could move a muscle, the vehicle swerved sharply, throwing everyone across the truck and into the opposite wall before slamming on its breaks, sending them spiraling to the back. All four were just starting to recover when the door was yanked up, revealing Fox's grave face. He took in Jack's stricken state first, grimacing. As soon as he moved to pick up Alex, however, Wolf moved, beating him to the punch. Nobody even tried to stop him this time.

They ran straight through the doors of the hospital's emergency room, shouting for help as Wolf looked around for someone to pass Alex off too for help. He might have been talking, or shouting. This part was all a blur for him. The paramedics had only frozen for a split-second upon seeing all the blood before quickly breaking out into action, sparing no time in taking Alex from Wolf and placing him on a gurney. In the midst of all the chaos, Wolf stared, unmoving, at the two still-swinging doors in which Alex had disappeared though, internally debating whether or not to follow. Alex hadn't been breathing. He'd lost a lot of blood.

_What if they hadn't been fast enough?_

He couldn't remember being led into a waiting room, nor sitting down, though Fox, Snake, Eagle and Jack were all there alongside him. Instead he just sat there, compressing all his emotions into a tight space at the back of his mind and keeping it tactfully out of reach from his active thoughts. There would be no breaking down in front of K-unit – in fact, there would be no breaking down at all. What a selfish motion that would be. If he couldn't handle this much, then why did he let it happen? He wasn't a victim in this.

He had failed, and that was all.

A couple hours passed. Wolf only knew this because of Snake's later announcement of "It's a quarter-past one. Does anybody want to go home?"

Nobody in the room had responded. Jack didn't even look like she'd heard him. Snake had waited, before muttering at last, "… Yeah… me neither."

Two o' clock came around. It was approaching the third hour of waiting when the doors were finally opened.

There wasn't a single pair of eyes that didn't snap up to look at the doctor with poorly disguised hope. It was Jack who prompted him after a moment of anxious silence.

"Well?"

He wasn't saying anything.

Wolf's eyes widened a fraction, his mouth going dry. The doctor kept his gaze low, a look of carefully detached regret clear in his weary features. His powder-blue scrubs were smeared with cracked maroon, and his hands were loosely clasped in front of him.

"I'm sorry," was all he said. "We did everything we could."

There was a beat of silence. The room's occupants seemed truly astounded by the news. While the possibility had been in everyone's mind, nobody had truly believed it.

Wolf stared.

"What?"

* * *

o0o0o0o

Ah, okay. So… you all hate me now, isn't that right? Five months of nothing, and then _this_ comes out. /holds up hands. I CAN EXPLAIN! … Actually, not really. My drafts/deleted scenes document for this chapter is almost twice as long as the actual chapter is. I know where I'm generally going with this, I promise. It's just the details that I always get hung up on!

Um, so I had a projected completion date I was prepared to release to you all. Then I completely changed the plot, and so now I have no clue how many chapters it will take to play out. Sorry about that…

Thanks, everyone, very much for the reviews! I mean I definitely don't deserve it. *cringes* … The next chapter won't take that long! I swear! And I'm sorry again – especially for the some-what rushed ending to this chapter. The reason for this mainly was because Wolf was still in shock, as well as a bit of denial.

To make up for my tardiness, the next chapter will be tons better – after all, I've already got like half of it written, if you can believe it.

My final year of high school starts in the month, and this is also the last month of summer, so I'm not sure how easy it will be to write, but thank you all so much for the support anyway (not just on this story, but on my various one-shots as well. You guys are amazing!) It's really helped with the muse! I will work hard to be swifter with my next update.

It's late, so I'm out!

**Next chapter: **wouldn't you like to know?


	19. Coping

"_Well?"_

_He wasn't saying anything._

_Wolf's eyes widened a fraction, his mouth going dry. The doctor kept his gaze low, a look of carefully detached regret clear in his weary features. His powder-blue scrubs were smeared with cracked maroon, and his hands were loosely clasped in front of him._

"_I'm sorry," was all he said. "We did everything we could."_

_There was a beat of silence. The room's occupants seemed truly astounded by the news. While the possibility had been in everyone's mind, nobody had truly believed it._

_Wolf stared._

"_What?"_

* * *

o0o0o0o

Chapter 19

**Coping**

It had been three days since the girls had been kidnapped, and Alex was announced dead.

Nobody in K-unit was talking to each other yet. Sadie and Eagle has all but disappeared into their apartment, without sending a word over to the others. Snake and Fox kept relatively silent in their flat, usually trying to stay out of each other's way. As soon as one returned, the other left. Nobody quite knew why, but one thing was clear: _none of them_ were ready to talk about it.

_Especially _not Wolf.

Actually, Wolf wasn't willing to talk at all. To anybody, really. In the three days following the Nightmare on Angeles Street, he hadn't even left the house. The first night, he'd fallen into bed in a stupor. The next day, he drank himself silly. The third day was a repeat of the second. And at the present moment of 11:36 p.m., Wolf was sitting on the edge of his couch hunched over, eyes red from sleeplessness even as he tried to avoid slumber. _What you're doing isn't healthy,_ a tiny voice in the back of his head murmured. _He wouldn't have liked this. Seeing you doing this._

Wolf's hand tightened around the beer he was currently nursing until his muscles began to strain and ache. After a couple seconds, he let it relax, releasing a deep breath. _I don't care,_ he thought. _What does his opinion matter now? He's dead._

Just when he fell asleep, Wolf couldn't recall, but he wasn't able to say he was glad for the release – the only thing worse than being awake and alone with his thoughts was being _asleep _with them, for the manifestation was a lot more vivid.

_"… Come on, Wolf, I made breakfast."_

_That voice. Something inside him broke at the sound of that voice. He knew it. Who was it again? Right, it was Cub. How come he was in Wolf's the house? Wasn't he supposed to be… gone? Gone _where_, though?_

_At the teen's continued attempts to wake him up, Wolf finally batted his hands away and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he let out a big lion-like yawn. Stretching one arm high above his head, he asked tiredly,_

"_What time is it? Shouldn't you be at school by now?"_

"_It's a Saturday," Alex quipped, placing one hand on his hip and looking almost motherly in his exasperation. "Remember? Now, sausages or bacon?"_

"_What a stupid question," Wolf grumbled. Alex rolled his eyes, turning around and heading towards the kitchen with one hand placed carelessly in the air, waving off the attitude effortlessly. "Bacon it is," he mumbled._

_Wolf remained seated for a couple more seconds, trying to gather his bearings. Jeez, why was it taking him so long to wake up this morning? It felt like there was cotton in his head. He was at home, wasn't he? And it was a Saturday? Despite knowing this, he couldn't help but feel like Alex wasn't supposed to be here._

_Alex… "Cub," Wolf muttered, testing the name on his tongue. It felt foreign, although he couldn't fathom why. Something just felt really, really wrong. In the background, Wolf could faintly hear Alex talking about something – he couldn't get his mind to focus on it, though. What was he missing?_

_Wait a minute._

_Alex was…_

_Wolf's stomach dropped at the exact same time he heard the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor. _

_Wolf jumped to his feet, grabbing the side of the couch and whipping around. Behind him, Alex had slipped and fallen, and was now shakily trying to pick himself up again. His hands were trembling so bad that he was doing more harm than good, though. Wolf stepped towards him, thoughts racing to find an answer to why he felt like this._

"_Are you okay?"_

_Wolf had heard himself ask the question, but couldn't actually remember giving the order to his brain to voice it. Alex gave a breathless huff, a smile falling onto his face as he managed to prop himself up on his hands and knees. Wolf's body refused to comply with the command to help the kid stand._

"_Fine," he whispered. "I just can't get up, for some reason."_

"_Why?" Wolf blurted out, still towering above him. A movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and Wolf's eyes flickered over to Alex's side where a red stain was starting to grow across the blonde's white shirt. Unable to lift a finger against it, Wolf watched with growing dread as the blood continued to soak the fabric, beginning to gather and fall. _

Drip, drip, drip…

"_I slipped," Alex answered his question, still desperately trying to smile despite the obvious strain made clear in his face._ He's in pain_, Wolf noted distantly, _why didn't I notice sooner? Has he been hurt this whole time?

_Alex grabbed the countertop and heaved himself up, while Wolf's arms finally gave and reached out to steady the teen. Alex's brown eyes flew up to meet Wolf's, who stared at him in his usual cool, calculating manner._

"_Good?" Wolf asked, eyebrows raised. Alex was gritting his teeth, but he nodded anyway. Wolf could still hear the dripping as blood began to pool at their feet._

_Wolf let go of him, leaving an unsteady Alex tottering on unstable legs. The boy's knuckles were white from where they were clenched around the granite countertop. _

"_How's your arm?" Wolf asked, trying to ease the atmosphere a little. Alex finally frowned, tipping his head to the side a little._

"_Arm?" he inquired._

"_You know," Wolf prompted, "the one you broke."_

"_Oh," Alex mumbled, holding up the aforementioned appendage and waving it a little. "It's fine." He glanced up and met Wolf's eyes once more, before his face split into a grin. "It doesn't hurt anymore!"_

_Wolf broke into a relaxed smile. "Good. Now… you mentioned breakfast?"_

Wolf's eyes flew open, and he sat straight up, heart hammering in his chest. He was panting hard, the cold sweat on his forehead a clear sign of his distress as he fought to catch his breath. Alarm was pumping adrenaline into his system as the man tried desperately to calm his racing pulse, eyes wide and horrified.

"Fuck," he breathed, spinning around and grabbing the back of the couch to try and stare into the darkness and make out… _something._ Dawn had yet to break. Still breathing in erratic huffs, Wolf threw himself off the couch and stumbled into the shadows, feeling around the kitchen. Hadn't he just been here? He'd been talking to him not ten seconds ago!

Wolf grabbed the counter, fingers brushing along the surface for any sign that someone had been there. Oh, God. Oh, no. He couldn't take this. Wolf knew he had a problem with nightmares, but Alex had been waking him up from the really bad ones for a while now, and he'd almost grown used to it.

Alex, who was dead.

Just when Wolf thought he might be crushed by the weight of the guilt, his phone rang, shattering the tension he could feel pressing down on him. His dark eyes sought out the clock above the microwave – 5:23 a.m. Who the_ hell _was calling him at _this_ hour?

Rubbing his forehead and sucking in a deep breath, Wolf tried to make his voice sound normal for when he greeted the caller. His hands were trembling hard enough to make him worry about dropping the phone, so he held it with both just to be careful. Was it one of K-unit? Were they going to start talking to him again? Were they even angry at him in the first place? He hadn't the slightest clue. To be honest, Wolf hadn't heard from them since they left the hospital. Not Snake, not Fox, not Eagle – nobody. And nobody else had called, either.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he made one last attempt to soothe his frazzled nerves before pressing the button and speaking quietly, "… Hello?"

A beat of silence. And then,

"_Ah, yes, hello? Yes, I was wondering if I could interest you in a subscription to __**Lucky Magazine! **_Lucky _is a magazine that focuses entirely on dogs and the special connection between the loyal companions and their loving owners! There are tips on what not to feed your dog, the truth behind popular kibble brands, and–"_

"IT IS FIVE IN THE _FUCKING_ MORNING!" Wolf roared, "… And I_ hate_ dogs!"

He slammed the phone back into its cradle.

* * *

0o0o0o

After three days of nothing other than single ring from a telemarketer at five a.m., Wolf received his second phone call. It was a couple hours after that (Wolf hadn't dared to go back to sleep) when the phone began ringing again, causing Wolf's head to whip around and eye it with suspicion. It was probably just another stupid scam _–_ he should have unplugged his phone after the first call. Standing up, he made his way over to the counter, hand closing around the cord in preparation to pull it out.

At the last moment, his hand twitched before snatching up the phone. "… Hello?"

"…"

Wolf frowned. "Is anyone there?"

Heavy breathing. And then, "…Wolf?"

Wolf's eyes widened. His jaw fell slack. Immediately, he closed his mouth, squeezed his eyes closed, and hung up. For a minute he just stood there, feeling sick and nauseous and trying to keep from throwing up. Nightmares were one thing. This was a whole other. Alex wasn't calling him.

_Alex was dead. _

He was going crazy.

_Ring, ring, ring…_

Wolf's eyes snapped open again. He stared unseeingly at the ringing phone, hands shaking and clammy. This was bad. He couldn't keep doing this. Grabbing the whole handset, he violently tore it away from its resting spot, wrenching the cable out of the drywall and cutting off the ringing abruptly. Then he threw it across the room, not even flinching when it crashed down onto the hardwood and broke into pieces.

He was panting from the sudden adrenaline attack, shoulders heaving up and down. After sucking in one more breath, he allowed himself to turn and rest his back against the wall, sliding down it until he was sitting on the floor with his hands buried in his hair. He placed his head between his knees, curling in on himself and muttering desperately, "_Get a grip, Luke!_"

Perhaps it was time to call K-unit.

This tentative thought was dispelled when he heard a knock on his door.

* * *

0o0o0o

Wolf had to give himself a minute to gather his wits, even if he knew his appearance was a bit of a lost cause. He hadn't showered in days. His complexion was pale and drawn. His eyes were red from exhaustion and lack of respite, and he'd been wearing the same T-shirt and sweats for two straight days. In fact, he was probably quite frightening to see all together. That's why he felt the first pang of self-consciousness in days after taking a look through the peephole and seeing someone other than a member of K-unit at his door. Suddenly nervous, Wolf did his best to look composed upon opening the door.

"Hello, Sabina."

After getting a closer look at the girl, Wolf felt a little better about himself. Compared to her usual strikingly beautiful image, she looked… well, awful. Almost as bad as him. Her long black hair was messy and unkempt, falling into her face, and her eyes were puffy from crying. She was wearing a black coat and trousers, both of which looked a little looser on her than usual.

"Hi, Luke," she muttered, lips quirking up in a decidedly un-Sabina-like smile – if you could even _call_ it a smile. He opened the door a little wider in a gesture of invitation, and she glided into the house making barely a sound.

"How have you been?" she asked, glancing over the table at him. They were both seated in the kitchen now. Wolf shrugged, looking away stubbornly.

"I'm coping," he lied. Then he looked at her. "You don't look so good."

She offered another humorless smile. "I don't feel so good," she admitted softly, gazing down at her hands. A momentary pause passed, and then Wolf asked,

"I don't mean to be rude…" Sabina could have laughed at that. "…but why are you here?"

She momentarily hesitated before answering, "…I don't know. I needed to leave the house, and I wanted to check up on you."

Wolf was a little surprised at this. "Me? Why not the other guys?"

"They didn't live with him," she explained briskly, and the conversation felt strangely surreal, as if both of them already knew the information being exchanged and saying it out loud was merely a formality. Wolf once again found himself unable to look at her, feeling the hole inside of him grow. He felt so _lacking_.

"That's thoughtful," he grunted, "but unnecessary. I'd offer you something to eat or drink, but I really… have next to nothing." Alex normally did the shopping on Thursdays. It was a Saturday.

"It's fine," she replied. "I didn't come here to eat. I want to talk to you. You say you're coping?"

"Yes," Wolf said slowly, eyeing her tense form. "Is something wrong?"

That earned him a dark look. The circles under her eyes mirrored his own. "I…"

She seemed to gather her courage. Then she blurted out in a rush, "Are you really sure he's dead?"

There was a beat of silence, and then Wolf stood up, placing both hands on the table for support. "What kind of question is that?" he demanded, his whole body rigid with anger. She had the decency to look abashed.

"I'm sorry," she breathed. "But I… I just don't feel right about the whole thing. Almost like… we missed something."

"Why would you think that?" he asked, his voice straining with controlled emotion.

"I don't know!" Sabina exploded, also standing up. "I just have a feeling, okay?"

"A _feeling?_ Are you sure you should be going around saying shit like that over a _feeling_ you have, Sabina? Your boyfriend just _died_, don't you think you might be a little out of your right mind right now?"

Sabina's expression was furious. "I had to say something! Wolf, it just – it just doesn't make sense! Has anybody spoken to MI6? Did anybody ever actually _see_ the body?"

"Do you really think MI6 would let something like that go by under their noses?" Wolf snapped, although her words pierced him deeper than he'd likely admit. They hadn't seen the body. Wolf hadn't heard from MI6. But that didn't mean that they'd all been fooled, did it? It wasn't easy to fake a death, never mind _Alex Rider's. _The kid didn't exactly blend into the background.

"Sabina," she said, trying to keep his voice calm, "you need to look at this logically. You weren't there, but Alex… Alex didn't look good. When they took him from us, he wasn't… he wasn't even _breathing._"

It was true that Sabina hadn't seen him before he'd been admitted into the hospital. She'd shown up after with the rest of the girls, having received a phone call from Snake, and they'd breathlessly explained how they'd narrowly escaped once Jack volunteered to provide a diversion. They'd agreed because they knew it would be easier for Alex and K-unit to rescue one person – even if they'd all, sans Tammy, argued over who would stay back.

She couldn't have understood just how bad things had gotten before they'd arrived. _She wasn't there._

"So?" Sabina snapped. "Alex has stopped breathing before! He's always come back! _Always!_ He was practically shot in th_e heart, _Luke, and he came back from _that!"_

"Sabina…" Wolf said again. "I understand your feelings, alright? I never wanted… this. It would be so much easier to accept that everybody else is wrong. But you're in denial. He's _dead_." So maybe he was being a _little_ harsh, but perhaps he needed to hear the words spoken aloud himself. For whatever reason, Wolf just couldn't shut up. "And he's _not coming back._"

Sabina recoiled, and that sick feeling returned to Wolf's stomach. He didn't really want to have to say all this – especially not to her. She'd been captured, and she'd escaped. Sabina had done all she could to help Alex on that mission. Wolf had failed from the start. It was his fault that she was now like this.

"It just…" she whispered, shaking her head and backing away. "It just doesn't… make sense…!"

She turned and left, but not before Wolf was caught the shimmer of tears in her eyes. He continued to stand there long after the door slammed and the sound of a car pulling out of the driveway faded from his ears.

Letting out a shaky breath, Wolf started to run a hand through his hair before stopping halfway and letting his hand fall. No wonder K-unit wouldn't talk to him. Why would _anybody _want to talk to him? He was a complete asshole. At that moment, Wolf couldn't help but wish Alex was there, if only to hit him over the head and reprimand him for speaking so ruthlessly to a girl who'd lost her boyfriend not four days ago. And maybe as long as he was there, he could make dinner, too. Wolf had hardly eaten anything in days.

Feeling a sudden rush of anger (whether it was towards Alex for dying or himself for getting him killed, Wolf didn't even know), he whipped around and slammed his fist into the wall. He didn't even register the pain before repeating it again, and again, and again. By the time he had stopped, his knuckles were raw and bloody, and he really did think he was in danger of throwing up. Rushing to the sink, Wolf placed both hands on the counter and leaned over, breathing raggedly. This was the worst feeling in the world. He didn't even want to see K-unit – he wouldn't _let himself_ want to, because honestly, he didn't deserve their support right then.

"I can't protect anybody," Wolf whispered into the empty room. "I can't even look after _myself."_

It remained a mystery to Wolf just as to why MI6 would trust him with a child. His fingers tightened around the edge of the counter. _Well, they probably didn't think I'd get him killed so quickly. _Wolf's jaw tightened. _A slight miscalculation._

Then again, that also seemed weird. Alex had been under Wolf's care, and he'd died. Why hadn't MI6 tried to call him yet? Had he really been so wrapped up in his own grief that he hadn't noticed that? Had _anybody_ actually _physically _heard from MI6? Wolf wanted to pick up the phone and find out, but then he remembered throwing it across the room. He swallowed hard, eyes widening. Oh, God. What… what if Sabina wasn't just in denial?

What if that really had been Alex on the phone?

Wolf stumbled back a couple steps, hitting the edge of the kitchen island with a look of horror on his face. If he wasn't going crazy, then where was Alex? Where was MI6? _What had he been doing these past four days?_

Wolf managed to find the presence of mind to hunt down his mobile in the pocket of his jeans a moment later, his hands tearing through the dirty laundry to find it. Finally, he held it up and tried to turn it on. _That's right_, he thought, gritting his teeth. It had run out of power while Alex was talking to Snake…

Fumbling for the charger cord, Wolf waited impatiently for the phone to boot up, all the while chewing on his lip and muttering, "Come on, come on…!"

Finally, the welcome screen disappeared and he was able to scroll through his (short) list of contacts. His fingers paused above the first one – _Cub – _and in the heat of the moment, he decided to try the number.

A short period of silence, and then, "The number you have dialed is unavailable right now. Please try again later…"

Wolf shook his head, internally berating himself for allowing his hopes to get that high before dialing for Snake. On the last ring, a weary voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Snake," Wolf greeted, voice sounding strangely off. Catching this, Snake hesitated before asking,

"… Wolf? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I–" Wolf's fingers drummed against the side of the small phone. "Nothing's wrong, I just need to know – have you heard from MI6 at all?"

"No…"

"Exactly!" Wolf all but cried, a crazy sort of smile appearing on his face. "Doesn't that seem odd to you? Shouldn't they have tried to contact us?"

"… Wolf, what exactly are you getting at here–"

"Alex might – Alex might not be dead. I know, I know, it's insane, it's impossible, but what if…"

"What if _what, _Wolf?" Snake demanded, his normally calm voice shrill with anger. "Can you even_ hear_ yourself right now? I don't hear from you for four days and when I do it's to hear your crazy rambling? Face the fucking facts, he's dead!"

Wolf had never heard Snake speak with such force before. He was almost always the one in control when everybody else was panicking – in hindsight, they should have made _Snake_ the leader, since picking Wolf had obviously been a mistake. Even with that in mind, Wolf's own temper couldn't help but flare up. "I didn't exactly hear from you either, Snake!"

"I figured if you wanted to talk, you would call me – and if you didn't, you wouldn't answer anyway. I certainly didn't expect this!"

"I'm not crazy!" Wolf barked, despite the fact that Snake hadn't actually _said_ that. "MI6 haven't spoken a word to me since – since then! He was under my care, don't you think they would have wanted to at least yell at me? Fire me? _Something? _That was _Alex Bloody Rider_ that I got killed!"

Snake's voice had lost its volume, but he still sounded positively livid. "You did _not_ get him killed, Wolf. Don't say that. We all fucked up, I know that much. But hasn't it occurred to you that MI6 might have bigger problems other than berating lousy babysitters? You're right – it was _Alex Bloody Rider. _They've got a lot of sorting out to do. He wasn't just MI6, remember?"

Snake was right – there'd been the CIA, ASIS, and probably a bunch more that Wolf didn't even _know_ the acronyms of. With Snake's words echoing loudly in his head, Wolf leaned on the post of his bed and argued feebly, "I… we never saw the body."

"They don't usually show the body, do they? None of us made the request, if I'm correct."

Snake was right. Oh, God, Snake was right. Hadn't he just yelled at Sabina for this less than an hour ago? What the hell was wrong with him?

He couldn't get himself to bring up the weird phone call. If Alex _was_ dead (_which he was, _Wolf reminded himself) then that would just scare Snake. Wolf didn't want to be going crazy. Wasn't this situation terrible enough? Was he really going to lose _everything_ over this?

Snake sighed after Wolf fell silent. "Wolf… I'm sorry. I know this has been hard on you…"

"Hard on me?" Wolf said incredulously. "You should be looking out for _yourself, _Snake. Who knows, you could be the _next_ team member I get killed."

"Wolf–"

"I get it, Snake. Okay? He's dead. I'm sorry for bothering you."

And then he hung up – just in time to notice the _six missed calls_ picture flashing on his screen. Had that not loaded before? How had he missed that? Unless they were all while he was talking to Snake… _shit, why hadn't he signed up for call waiting?_

_Unknown number, _the phone flashed, and just when thought he might go crazy from the suspense of not knowing who the hell tried to call him _six times_ in the last two minutes, the phone began to buzz in his hand._ Unknown number._ He accepted the call and gingerly said,

"Hello?"

A beat of silence just like last time. More breathing.

"Wolf!"

If he were imagining the calls, they wouldn't have shown up on the phone.

This was real.

"C… Cub!"

* * *

0o0o0o

It's a shorter-than-usual chapter, but LOOK HOW FAST IT CAME OUT OMG. That was like what, two weeks? An improvement from five months, for sure. Yeee budday! Anyways, I am now sixteen, having graduated from fifteen on August 9th, so yaaay for that.

The reason I updated so quickly is a) I enjoy writing angst and b) that was an awful cliffie, and I felt bad.

… Not bad enough to spare you guys from this one, though. Kehehehehehhehehh! (interpret that laugh however you'd like.)

**Edit: **Returned to touch up some glaring mistakes - also, for anybody wondering, I'm leaving for a while and probably won't get the chance to update before September, so in the meantime please be patient! And thank you all sooo much for the kind reviews!

**Next chapter: **Where the hell is Alex?


	20. Banana Phone

_Unknown number, the phone flashed, and just when thought he might go crazy from the suspense of not knowing who the hell tried to call him six times in the last two minutes, the phone began to buzz in his hand. Unknown number. He accepted the call and hesitantly said,_

"_Hello?"_

_A beat of silence just like last time. More breathing. _

"_Wolf!"_

_If he were imagining the calls, they wouldn't have shown up on the phone. _

_This was real._

"_C… Cub!"_

o0o0o0o

Chapter 20

**Banana Phone**

"Jesus Christ – Cub – I-I… is that… is that you? Y-you're not…" Wolf stammered, his vision spinning even as he tried to push the dizziness aside. "Where are you? What the _hell_ happened? And if you're not – how – where have you _been?_"

Wherever Alex was, he didn't seem to have great cell reception. Typical. The other line crackled, and Wolf had to strain to make out the words. _"… you serious? I tried calling you like fifty times, where have _**you** _been?"_

Emotions were flooding Wolf's brain at such a rapid rate that he felt like he would implode at any second. Alex wasn't dead. Wolf wasn't responsible for his death. Alex wasn't dead. Sabina was right. Alex was alive, Snake was wrong, _Alex __**wasn't dead**__._

Feeling stupid and terrified and so, _so relieved,_ Wolf couldn't manage to do anything other than breathe out, "Fucking Christ, _Cub…"_

"_M'here,"_ Alex mumbled into the awful static, and Wolf was suddenly pulled back into reality. Clutching the phone to his face as though it were his only lifeline, Wolf asked once more, "Where are you?"

Pause. "_I don't know."_

"Are you okay?"

No reply.

"I asked, are you _okay?"_ Wolf ground out, despite knowing the answer. Of course he wasn't okay. He'd been shot only four days ago, his arm was probably just as broken as the last time Wolf had seen it, and he was calling Wolf from God-knows-where after being officially pronounced _dead_. As stupid as Wolf knew the question to be, he needed an answer, if only to find out just _how_ not-okay he was.

"Scale of one to ten?" he tried instead, switching tactics.

"_Ten million,"_ Alex whispered, and Wolf, not sure if he was joking or if he really was a ten million out-of-ten on the SNAFU scale, asked,

"Why are you whispering? Have you been able to contact MI6? Cub– Cub, what the fuck _happened _to you?"

Alex's breathing filled up the line again. There was the sound of movement, some kind of scraping, and then a shout way in the distance that may or may not have been part of the static.

_"Wolf,"_ Alex said softly, voice distorted by the crackling. _"It's not over."_

And then the line went dead.

0o0o0o

_-Two Days Earlier-_

"_Stay with me, please! PLEASE!"_

Everything was dark, but Alex's thoughts continued to flow through like splintered driftwood in wild, untamed rapids. They were fleeting and disjointed, varying in volume and complexity, but he was so confused that he couldn't tell thought from feeling, feeling from memory, memory from fantasy.

_"…ou've done enough."_

Heat was licking at his fingertips – flames. He jerked his fingers away from the source.

Dark brown eyes were peering down at him.

"… _put on a movie downstairs.__The Godfather.__Thought it was fitting…"_

Weightlessness.  
_  
"–g__uess even unconscious I just can't stand you."_

Sadness. Or was it anxiety? Nervousness? Happiness? His fingers were sliding through something long and soft and dark, and he liked it, and it was important, for some reason, and then suddenly he was looking at creamy white skin dotted with freckles like spilled brown sugar. He was speaking.

_"Do you feel like ice cream?"_

Then it was dark again, and he was unable to move, but he could tell things were passing by him very quickly.  
_  
"It's not your fault."_

"He'll be okay."

_"__He__didn't seem to think so." _

Breathing became difficult. Voices were shouting, at each other, at him, at the sky. He was moving quickly again. Something was touching his face. His thoughts melted into a pool, and was he really hearing them, or was he just remembering them, and who or what was _them, _anyway?

The pool began to shrink, and as his confusion began to drain, so did any sort of awareness he'd been clinging too.

"_If you haven't died by the end of this, I'm going to kill you myself."_

Through the mess that was his mind, he registered few physical things other than the occasional spike of pain or sudden exposure to new temperature. Cold – he was _so _cold. It was like an icebox where he was… wherever _that_ was.

Where was he?

What was he doing again? Where was he supposed to be? Where was everyone? Better yet, who was "everyone"? He couldn't remember any names. The memories flashing past him included other people, but none of them had faces. And very quickly, Alex began to get scared.

He started to panic, mentally scrambling to find some kind of explanation or link to reality. Was he unconscious? Why did it feel like he was swimming in an ocean of molasses?

The adrenaline was working its magic, though. He was fighting against the fog clouding his mind, and it was grudgingly becoming more effective. In the distance, he was beginning to regain his hearing, as the voices around him started to get louder and shriller. His hand twitched, and all at once everything returned to him and his eyes snapped open.

He threw himself into motion, sharp brown eyes darting around the room for an escape route without lingering on anything much else other than the occasional detail. The walls were white. He was sitting on some kind of table. There were about five other people in the room with him. And there was the door.

With a cry, Alex pushed himself off the platform, landing heavily on his heels. The five were running around grabbing things, and one was wiping down a needle. Recognizing the danger of the device, Alex wasted no time in bitch-slapping the utensil out of the shorter man's hand and punching him in the face.

Someone was speaking quickly into an intercom. _"–Need some help up here; the patient has regained consciousness and become hostile–… lashing out–"_

His still-fuzzy mind was registering this room and everything in it as a threat, and Alex wasn't one to argue with his instincts. With fury rushing through his veins, Alex thought, _I'll show you lashing out,_ and allowed the animalistic anger to take over.

He managed to destroy most of the delicate glass items in the room, and everything that couldn't be broken that easily ended up clattering on the floor. Two cabinets lost their doors (one of which also lost its hinges), and three of the doctors had been knocked out. The remaining two still foolishly seemed to think they stood a chance against him with their flimsy, feeble needles.

"Alex," one said in a glaringly falsely-reassuring voice that only served to piss him off further. "Alex, you need to calm down. We're not the enemy here."

His voice was the last thing to return to him, and if he'd been able to think clearly, he might have felt embarrassed when his voice broke. "I'm not supposed to be here," he whimpered. "Where am I?"

"You're safe," she said, and anger seized him all over again. He wasn't an idiot. He knew he wasn't safe. Why was everybody lying to him so much?

"I have to get of here," he thought out loud, turning his back on them and diving for the door. Wrenching the handle toward him, he yanked it open and found himself face-to-face with two huge, armed, and generally unhappy-looking men. They stared down at him where he stood panting and partly hunched over, one hand holding his side without him having any recollection of instigating the position. Only then did he notice that a) he was shirtless, and b) he was covered in blood.

His left arm was throbbing. How had he missed that? Wincing at the new discovery, Alex's confidence began to wane. These three looked pretty large, and now that the adrenaline was leaving his system, more and more pain began to build up in various parts of his body. Suddenly, his legs gave way beneath him, and Alex dropped to his knees, his good hand falling away from his side in order to support him. He stared unseeingly at the floor.

So he was injured. Well, that explained the hospital. It didn't explain the alarm bells in his head, though. He wasn't at St. Dominic's. So where the hell was he?

He didn't feel the prick in his neck, but at some point one of the remaining doctors must have administered him something to calm him down. As soon as he felt the drowsiness begin to lap at the edges of his mind, his panic returned, and perhaps the reason the next events were able to unfold was because he caught them all off guard when he abruptly surged forward, sliding right between the two thugs and sweeping both guns into his hands. His broken arm protested the extra weight, but Alex just gritted his teeth and _ran._

Even if his side was also killing him, it helped that both his legs were still perfectly functional. Head pounding and vision blotting out, Alex knew he was really pushing his limit. He could hear shouts and footsteps sounding behind him, and he ran even faster, his lungs burning for oxygen. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He was bleeding. He was exhausted. And he was still outrunning these guys. _Talk about a low-budget operation,_ he thought dizzily to himself, appreciating his own snarkiness since, honestly, there was nobody else there to appreciate it.

He skidded to a stop and slid around a corner, spotting a window at the end of the hall. Starting towards it, he prayed he wasn't on the tenth floor or something. He tucked one of the guns into the waistband of his powder-blue hospital pants, and dropped the other one, using his now-free hand to maneuver the window open. He poked his head out.

The fresh air felt good on his face, but that wasn't what he was here for. He was three stories up. Letting out a breath of relief, Alex prepared himself for a little more pain and climbed out.

The wind seemed to pick up once he'd pressed his back against the wall and closed the window again. Being outside helped calm him down a little, but in this case, this was a very, very bad thing. He wasn't wrong about being drugged again. His body was trying to shut down, but every little department of his mind was helping him put it off. _Just a little longer, _he thought. _Don't let me pass out here!_

He'd managed with great difficulty to get himself down to the second story windowsill before the doors below him opened, and Alex took this as his opportunity to jump. He landed square on the guy's shoulders, _possibly_ killing him, though Alex didn't let himself feel too bad about it – he was one of the men that he'd given the slip outside his hospital room. Leaping off of the heap of probably-broken bones, he took off.

The hospital was literally in the middle of nowhere. He was surrounded by trees, broken only by the long road extending toward the only building in the vicinity. Figuring he still had a couple minutes before they gave up searching inside the building and began looking for him outside, he made it to the parking lot, the heaviness in his bones slowing him down and causing his eyelids to droop. The first car he reached was a van much like Snake and Fox's, so he smashed the window with his fist and unlocked it, jumping into the front seat and making short work of the wires beneath the steering wheel. He was lucky it was an older model, because many new cars weren't able to be hotwired anymore, and required the more complicated gadgets he normally received from Smithers.

The car thankfully rumbled to life, and Alex checked to make sure nobody had yet to leave the building. He backed out, revved the engine, and took off down the single road at full speed. He was on his final reserves to get rid of the drowsiness at this point, and thought now might be a good time to regroup before he passed out behind the wheel.

He glanced over at the clock above the wheel. It read 3:54 p.m. Glancing out the window at the clear blue sky, Alex shook his head and drove faster, watching as the trees opened out into hillsides. Why was there only one god damned road? Where _was_ he?

"Shit!" he cursed, slamming his fist down on the side of the wheel. He couldn't feel his feet. The road in front of him was swerving and doubling. He needed to… needed to…

His eyelids fell, and just as his vision came to a close, a single detail brought his whole mind back into focus.

In the cup holder, a small mobile was blinking its blue light at him.

His good arm shot out to seize the tiny plastic item, flipping it open and staring down at the colorful background. He'd long since memorized Wolf's phone number. Using his knee to steady the wheel, his trembling fingers fumbled to enter the correct sequence. Eventually he was able to maneuver it up to his ear, holding it between his chin and his shoulder while the other arm fell back onto the wheel.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Hello?"

Alex's breath hitched. Wolf's voice. Wolf was there – he wasn't alone in this anymore. He was the most reliable person Alex knew, if only in that he could always be relied on to be a stubborn, indomitable pain in the ass. Struggling to conjure up his voice, he heard the man say a little more impatiently,

"Is anyone there?"

"... Wolf?" he managed to whisper after a moment.

There was a sharp intake of breath, a hanging pause, and then... a dial tone. Alex's eyes widened in shock before narrowing again. His fingers tightened around the phone.

_He fucking hung up on me!_

Quickly pressing redial, he waited for a couple more rings, but hope was lost when the operator broke out into _"the number you have dialed is unavailable at this time"._

"_FUCK!" _he snarled.

_What the hell just happened?_

Before he could dwell any further on the odd response, he noticed something else.

A car was coming towards him. It was dark blue, and quite large. Aware that he was driving all over both lanes (struggling to stay on the road _period)_, Alex slammed on the breaks, smacked his forehead on the wheel, and blacked out. When he opened his eyes again, his door was being wrenched open and he was being hauled out of the front seat. He tried to speak, but whoever was manhandling him didn't seem all that friendly. A fist buried itself into his stomach… and he finally succumbed to the darkness.

0o0o0o

* * *

"Cub? Cub! Cub, fucking answer me!" Wolf snarled, his grip tightening around his phone as the silence bled on. He leaned back and immediately opened up call history. _Unknown number,_ the phone flashed, _cannot retrieve. _With a cry of frustration, Wolf threw his face into his hands and shook his head, breathing harshly through his teeth. Cub was alive, but he had little to no information to go on. It seemed he would need to call in a little backup.

Taking one last long, deep breath, Wolf scrolled one call down and re-dialed Snake. On the third ring, the man answered tiredly, "_Hello?"_

"Snake, listen to me, and please, I'm not going insane. Cub literally called me two minutes ago."

There was the sound of shifted, and then a deep, heavy sigh was heard. _"Wolf…"_

"I know that '_Wolf…'_"he mocked, mimicking the voice exaggeratedly. "Cut the shit, Snake. I'm serious. My phone's call history will prove it. I'm not crazy. Listen to me. He's in trouble, but he's not dead."

More hesitance on the line and then,_ "Wolf, I swear to God, if you're making this up, or joking, it's not fucking cool. I don't want to hear this. Did he… did he **really** call you?"_

"YES!" Wolf shouted, throwing one hand into the air. "Why the _hell_ would I make a joke out of this? He called me and there was static but I spoke to him! I spoke to him for–" Wolf held the phone away from his face to check, "… fifty-seven seconds! He's – he's not safe."

"_What… fuck, Wolf, I really mean it, if you're…"_

"Either trust me enough to take me seriously or hang up and I'll do what I can on my own," Wolf snapped, "but you'd better make up your damn mind! Are you listening to me yet?"

"… _I'm listening,"_ Snake replied, voice just barely perceivable as shaking.

"Okay. I had a bunch of missed calls right after I got off the phone with you, but I couldn't trace them cause my phone… whatever. Anyway, right then, whoever it was called again. So I pick it up and it's Cub, and I can barely hear him, but he's talking to me and _it's him._ He only really managed to tell me one thing, though."

"_Which was?"_

"He said, 'It's not over.'"

"… _Holy shit…"_

"He's alive, Snake. Somebody's after him, though."

"_They must have… at the hospital… Oh, my God, you were right. Sabina was right. He's really… We have to contact MI6!"_

Wolf scoffed. "Like they contacted us? I'm sure they know he's alive. That's probably why we haven't heard a single word from them since. I bet they're frantic to find him, and for good reason. They probably haven't a clue where he is. They can't tell us anything we don't already know – and if they can, then they _won't._"

"_No, look, Wolf, I really think this is out of our hands. We should–_"

"No!" Wolf retaliated, gripping the phone tightly. "MI6 have never lifted a finger to help any of us unless it was of some benefit to them! They'll use us to get Alex back and then repeat the cycle! We can't trust them, Snake!"

"_We don't have to __**trust**__ them_–"

"Of course we do! We can't collaborate with people we can't trust when this is – this is Cub's _life_ on the line, are you out of your mind _insane? _This is up to us alone!"

_"Like our **last** rescue mission was?"_ Snake finally snapped. _"Just look how **that** went down!"_

Wolf froze.

"That's… that's not fair–"

_"Don't bring up that 'fair' bullshit. We failed."_

"The girls were saved."

_"Wolf, pull your **monumental head** out of your ass for **five ****seconds** and get serious! Alex is half-dead in God-knows-where with an endlessly multiplying mob of terrorists on his tail and you want to call that fuck-up of a mission a **success**?"_ Snake asked, baffled. _"We need help! Just admit it already! We can't do this by ourselves, it's too huge!"_

Wolf was quickly losing control over his emotions. He felt hopelessness weave itself into his tone as he murmured in a strained voice, "… There's four of us, Snake. Four heavily-armed and professionally trained SAS _soldiers_. And Cub… Cub is a teenage boy_._"

He swallowed hard, trying to keep his composure. Snake was quiet.

"He's won against the most impossible of opponents even after MI6 turned their back on him. He's saved millions of lives, and he's… he's done incredible things. I mean, _shit_... You know I'm no good at speeches like this. But he did it all alone. We can't turn to _them_ now."

_"You're wrong,"_ Snake shot back. _"You're wrong about one thing. He **didn't **do it all alone. He accepted help when he knew he needed it. From Ben, from Tom, from Sabina, from us… **and** from MI6. And he didn't let petty things like his **pride**–"_ he practically spat the word, _"–prevent him from recognizing his own limits."_

Wolf stared unseeingly down at the ground, thoroughly taken aback.

Was Snake right? Was it really his _pride_ that was getting in the way of rescuing Alex? It was true that the idea of approaching MI6 for help after getting Alex into the mess in the first place far from _appealed_ to him, but surely he wasn't _this_ selfish, was he?

_I don't think it would sting this much if I wasn't._

"I… okay."

"_You're god damned delusional–!... I__–_… wait… what?"

"I said, 'okay'. We'll go to MI6. We'll get some back up. Nothing wrong with a little back up."

There was a pause on the other line as Snake tried to digest Wolf's sudden uncharacteristic show of humility.

_"Are… you sure–?"_

"Oh, shut the fuck up and call the guys. There isn't another second to waste. We have a dead kid to save."

0o0o0o0o

* * *

Wolf is evolving!

… Oh dear. I guess my explanation will began with this: I began going out with the boy I'd liked for eight months in September. I also began my senior year. And I got a job at a coffee house. Priorities and all that garbage.

… Don't hurt me?

Thank you everybody for all the reviews – it was the last few that pushed me to put out a god damned chapter. I haven't properly written in months, and it's pathetic. I will do my best to update again soon, but definitely not before February as I have grounded myself to work on schoolwork. Really though, thank you all so much for the support and feedback on the story – I know I'd never find the drive to keep writing without you guys, and I appreciate every last word I receive in response. You're all amazing.

This chapter is hella short – a whopping _3600_ words. What an embarrassment… but as it will take me a while to work out the next few parts, I'm just publishing what I've got till this point.

**Next chapter: **Wolf's humility slowly becomes more forced, Alex continues to bite the hand that holds him captive and MI6 is all giggles.


	21. Here's Something You Didn't Know

_"I… okay."_

_"__You're god damned delusional–!... I–… wait… what?"_

_"I said, 'okay'. We'll go to MI6. We'll get some back up. Nothing wrong with a little back up."_

_There was a pause on the other line as Snake tried to digest Wolf's sudden uncharacteristic show of humility._

_"Are… you sure–?"_

_"Oh, shut the fuck up and call the guys. There isn't another second to waste. We have a dead kid to save."_

o0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 21

**Here's Something You Didn't Know**

When Alex awoke, his first thought was how incredibly thirsty he was.

_The ceiling is very… white,_ he thought, glancing around. After attempting to sit up and finding himself to be strapped down to whatever it was he was lying horizontal across, he allowed his muscles to relax. Bright lights and a white ceiling. They'd probably dragged him back to the god-forsaken hospital.

_Fuck this,_ was his next coherent thought. _Where's my one phone call? Oh wait, that's prison. Damn it!_

When the sound of a heavy door opening hit his ears, Alex ground his teeth and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. A light laugh greeted him; it was high and female. Tinkling, like a bell.

"I know you're awake, Alex," an accented voice, full of contempt, cut into his thoughts. He winced before slowly opening his eyes again, taking in the woman before him.

The first thing he noticed about her was that she was incredibly beautiful. She was about medium height – perhaps a little on the shorter side – with large, doe-like eyes and fair hair that fell in waves to her shoulders. Her lips were dressed in light pink, and he couldn't help but wonder what the hell a woman like that was doing in a place like… wherever they were. He wasn't entirely sure anymore.

"Are you here to provide me with a special service?" he quipped, openly examining her from head to toe. She had a small waist and larger hips, but the rest of her body was mostly obscured by the long white coat she wore. He decided that her breasts were somewhere between D's and DD's.

"If by special service you mean a needle in your arm and a lot of questions, then yes."

"Yeah," he sighed, turning back to the ceiling. "Yeah, _that's_ what I meant."

The smacking of rubber hit his ears before he felt the sterile touch of her gloved fingertips glide over his inner arm, searching for the right spot to strike. A little bit of cotton-swab cleaning and cutting off of circulation later and he felt the slight sting of a needle bury itself in his arm. Two minutes into the blood work, the woman said, "You're oddly calm, for a prisoner."

"You may not be able to tell, but I can leave any time I please."

"Is that so?" She arched a finely-traced eyebrow.

"It is."

"In that case, why not just leave right now?"

"I'm hoping to charm you into getting on board with the "special service" thing."

"Am I mistaken in my knowledge that you have a girlfriend waiting for you back home?"

"Who, Sabina? Ah, she won't care."

"… I see."

The needle carefully slid out of his system and the woman returned to her station, pulling off her gloves and cleaning off the equipment. When she was done, she picked up a clipboard before returning to his side, pulling up a chair next to his gurney.

"So, how are you feeling, Alex?"

"To be honest, I'm thirsty as hell. And I would really like to make a phone call."

"I can get you some water, but I'm afraid there aren't any phones in this room."

"I'm sure there's one down the hall."

"I'm not bringing it to you."

"I'm not asking you to."

"I thought you could leave anytime you pleased?"

"Well sure, but first you have to unstrap me and then stand back as I exit peacefully."

"So that's what you meant…"

"What else would I mean? Who am I here, Houdini?"

"We've been warned in advance to treat you as such."

"How flattering! Who's we?"

She made an impatient noise, smacking the end of her pencil against the clipboard. "We're digressing."

"Yes, that often happens with me. You'll get used to it."

"No, I won't. How are your injuries feeling?"

His injuries – he'd forgotten about those. How _did_ his injuries feel? Focusing, he felt a slight twinge in his side, but from how tightly he was strapped down, he couldn't move his arm well enough to make a proper diagnosis on that. There was no pain while it was sessile, that much he could conclude. He decided to try and see if he could use this to his advantage, though.

"Listen, Dr…?"

She didn't respond to his prompt.

"Fine then, be that way, I'll just call you Dr. Feelgood. Listen, Dr. Feelgood, my arm is kind of sore. Could you let up some of the pressure of the straps?"

She looked uncomfortable. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Oh my God, Dr. Feelgood, it _huuuurts!_ Come onnnn… I won't try to escape, I _promiseee…_"

His whining was clearly working, as was the puppy dog face, because her pained expression only increased. Finally, after more pleading and bribes of his own "special service", she relented and moved around to the other side of the gurney. The leather jerked underneath her hands, and when he felt it loosen the slightest bit, rather than slamming his weight into the bindings, his good arm shot out to grab her hand. Before the shock could even register on her face he'd twisted it and flung her forward, and with a quick maneuver of the buckle on his stomach he sat straight up, yanking his legs out of the lower ones. In a flash he was on his feet, catching the doctor's wrists as she lunged at him.

For a second both of them just stood there, inches apart and breathing heavily. All of the good humor and playfulness had disappeared from Alex's eyes, leaving two hard, golden pools in their place. The fluorescent lighting beat down on both of them, illuminating Alex's face and showcasing the lack of emotion on it. The doctor swallowed, real fear encompassing her for the first time since the teen first opened his mouth to speak to her.

She'd underestimated him.

A predatory, sideways smile slowly slid across his face. "Thanks, doc; that feels _so _much better."

Her eyes widened just as his good hand darted to take over holding her other wrist as well, holding them both in place with an iron grip. His other plunged into her lab coat pocket, reemerging with a small mobile in his hand. She stared at him in shock, wondering when he'd figured out that was there.

She'd just as soon opened her mouth as the phone was slammed into the back of her head with blunt force, sending her to the floor.

Alex stared down at the unconscious woman with a pained expression on his face. He didn't really like having to use underhanded methods like that – especially since he'd played on her weakness as a doctor, not as a member of a murderous terrorist organization – but he couldn't stay in that room any longer.

His fingers tightened around the phone he was holding. Truth be told, he'd noticed the heavy weight in her pocket when he was checking her out earlier.

He snatched up a ready sedative needle (one she'd probably arranged early in the case that he should turn on her… great preparation there) and a couple scalpels. His eyes lingered on the bottle of pain killers for half a second, but he resisted the urge because he knew he couldn't afford to be anything but perfectly alert. He ended up taking the doctor's coat just because the pastel blue hospital shirt he wore provided him with no pockets, and finally, when he was all ready to go, headed towards the door.

Then he paused. He had no idea who or what was waiting for him out there.

Alex looked down at the phone he was still holding in his hand.

He dialed Wolf's number – _beep, beep, beep_. A fucking _busy tone._

A frown came over his face. Why couldn't he get a hold of Wolf? This was starting to _really_ frustrate him. Trying again, he received the same result.

"Guess I'll just have to take my chances with a little acting," he muttered, allowing his broken arm to relax a bit. He finally noticed that while it wasn't in a cast (as it should be), it was at least wrapped with bandages. He had no idea what good that would do, but it prompted him to also slide his blue hospital shirt up a bit. A tight winding of white gauze was keeping the wound from acting up too much. He thought it safe to assume that it had been stitched, as well.

_Well,_ he thought cheerfully, _in that case, I'm pretty much set. I wonder why it doesn't hurt? Oh – I'm probably already pumped up on drugs. Seems pretty likely… this should be fun._

And with that, Alex unlocked the_ three_ separate locks keeping his room obscured from any prying eyes or, say, allies of Britain attempting to rescue him before pushing the door open an inch and peaking out. He could make out two men standing with their arms crossed just a couple feet away from the door, hovering with an air of self-importance that made him want to snort. Carefully closing the door, he tried one more time to get a hold of Wolf, but that infuriating busy signal was his only response.

Formulating a plan in his head in about the span of six seconds, Alex tore the door open, shot forward and smashed the mobile into the back of the first guard's skull just as he'd done with the doctor. The other one had just managed to get a split second of noise in before Alex smacked his good hand over the man's mouth, silencing any kind of alarm he might have made. In the same moment he slammed his knee into the thug's groin, crippling him with pain and drawing tears to his eyes. He crumbled, and Alex was just about to strike again when the man grabbed his broken arm.

A white-hot flash of pain bolted its way through the appendage, nearly activating his gag reflex. His automatic reaction of snatching the limb away from the source only made it that much worse, as the man's grip was solid and jerking his arm around only served to grind the broken bones together. He let out a sharp cry and the man smirked.

"Not so tough now, are you?" he grinned, displaying a beautiful row of broken teeth. Alex swallowed. This didn't look good.

"I've been worse," he retorted weakly before jerking his arm down and swinging his leg up in a high kick to the guard's face. Blood spurted out of his broken nose, forcing him to instantly release Alex. The teen reeled away, trying to banish the agony coursing through his arm by grinding his teeth and thinking happy thoughts.

"Capturing one of my limbs – especially _the one I can't use anyway – _hardly gives you the advantage. Didn't they tell you who you were dealing with?"

The man lunged forward, but Alex sprung to the side and planted his foot in the back of the guy's head, slamming it against the wall and knocking him unconscious. Alex took off down the corridor without lingering for a second longer.

_That took a lot longer than I expected it to,_ Alex thought with an internal frown, despite the fact that the exchange had only really lasted more or less a minute. He dialed Wolf a couple more times, insistently pressing redial each time he received the _user busy _signal. Already he was hearing footsteps and shouts behind him, leaving him shaking his head in distaste.

"Two guards," he scoffed to himself. _If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that they never learn._

Finally, on Alex's sixth try, he got through.

"_Hello?"_

Alex nearly stopped running, although he did trip and stumble a little. Just the sound of Wolf's voice served to calm a great deal of his slightly frazzled nerves. Breathing hard, he addressed the man, knowing it wasn't as though call display was going to explain his presence.

"Wolf!" _I swear to God if he hangs up on me again…!_

There was a beat of silence, and Alex turned a corner, shoving past two confused-looking doctors. The coat he wore was probably all that kept him from being immediately assaulted and detained (as was his own fighting spirit, when it came down to it), but it probably helped that he'd been so closely guarded as well. He thought it safe to assume that only a handful of people had actually been allowed to see his face.

"_C… Cub!"_ Despite his circumstances, Alex had to smile a little, a breathless sort of laugh escaping through his lips. It probably just sounded like static to Wolf, though.

"_Jesus Christ – Cub – I-I… is that… is that you? Y-you're not…"_ Wolf stammered on before switching tactics. _"Where are you? What the __**hell**__ happened? And if you're not – how – where have you__** been?**__"_

He continued to breathe swears and incomprehensible mutters under his breath, but Alex didn't bother attempting to answer any of those questions. Wolf… Wolf must have thought that he had…

Alex swallowed hard. Wolf didn't know he'd been captured. He'd probably been told upfront that Alex had been killed. His heart ached for the man just thinking about it – there was no way Wolf would cope well with something like that. Sure, the man dealt with death on a daily basis (it was in the job description), but maybe that was why he was so sensitized to any kind of injury his unit received. It was not an unfamiliar idea for him. In fact, it probably crossed his mind multiple times each day.

Alex grimaced just as Wolf whispered a little louder, _"Fucking Christ, __**Cub…**__"_

"I'm here," he affirmed between harsh breaths. Fucking hospitals were _mazes!_

"Where are you?"

Alex considered the question. He had yet to see any signs that told him what hospital he was being held in. It wasn't the same as last time, which just confused him. How many hospitals did this Capricorn organization had access to? Unless…

Alex struggled to stay focused on his surroundings as thoughts whirred through his mind. People weren't recognizing him. This had to be a semi-public hospital.

"I don't know," he said in reply to Wolf's question.

"Are you okay?"

Alex wanted to answer, but at that moment an arm shot out to grab his shoulder and whip him around. The hand in possession of the phone fell to his side in an attempt to hide the device as he found himself face-to-face with an angry looking older nurse.

"And just where are _you _supposed to be?"

"Actually, I was just leaving," he chirped before shamelessly slamming his foot into her knee. She yelped, falling backwards, and Alex took off. He pressed the mobile back against his ear in time to hear Wolf repeat,

_"I asked, are you __**okay?**__"_

Alex tripped, sending himself sprawling onto the floor. He slid into the next room on his side (a rather painful affair), which was unfortunately filled with people. Wincing, he was left scrambling to pick himself back up. At least a dozen pairs of eyes stared across at him in astonishment. He coughed into his fist before giving them all a small salute. Then he shot straight through the crowd, pushing and shoving when necessary and drawing more than a few outraged shouts and cries from the populace. As soon as he was past them, he returned the phone to his ear.

_"Scale of one to ten?"_

He was glad for the less-vague choice of questioning, because he'd feel bad about telling Wolf he _wasn't okay, _and that he was running half-crazed through a public hospital with a busted body and a bunch of deranged terrorist doctors on his tail… but he'd also feel bad about lying and saying he was "fine". Wolf had made his feelings clear on _that_ word, after all.

"Ten million," he finally divulged, scanning the current hallway. The next door he spotted he decided to enter, yanking it open and closing it just as quickly. He needed to catch his breath and reassembly his thoughts. Alex was too preoccupied to look around right away.

_"Why are you whispering? Have you been able to contact MI6? Cub– Cub, what the __**fuck **__happened to you?"_

Finally, Alex took a second to turn around and find out just what room he'd thrown himself into. He was met with the curious blue gaze of a little boy.

_Oh God._

He didn't have time for this conversation right now.

"Wolf," he muttered, his fingers tightening around the phone. He didn't want to hang up. _God,_ he didn't want to hang up. It felt like he was giving up one of his last lifelines. Nevertheless, he had to say goodbye, because he could still hear people scrambling after his trail in the halls.

"It's not over."

He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket, once again finding himself faced with an unrelenting stare.

Alex stared right back, trying to remember the last time he'd interacted with a child. He smiled nervously. "Uh, hi."

The boy stared for a second longer before announcing loudly,

"I'm Liam."

Alex took in the boy's black eye and various scrapes and bruises – and that was only what he could see. He could only guess what lay beneath the other bandages littering the boy's small frame.

"I'm Alex," he said, glancing around the room. He spotted a few syringes and walked right over to them, opening a few drawers in an attempt to find whatever it was he was supposed to fill them with. He had no idea how to work the things, so he settled for the sharpest-looking utensils he could find, stashing them in the large pockets of the coat.

"Are you my new doctor?" Liam asked. "Dr. Williams told me I was gunna get a new doctor. One for me to talk to about stuff."

"What kinda stuff?" Alex inquired absently, scanning the locked white cupboards. Experimentally searching all of the pockets on the coat, he discovered a large ring of keys in one of the inside pockets. So that's what was digging into the bandages on his side. He was actually really surprised he hadn't torn his stitches yet – he'd been convinced that that kick he'd executed earlier would do it.

"My parents, and stuff."

His voice was quieter when he answered this time, drawing Alex's eyes away from the bulging key ring that had taken over his attention.

"Did something happen to your parents?"

The boy shrugged. Alex analyzed him again with a more critical eye. Ideas tore through his mind at light-speed, as usual, summoning images of car accidents and plane crashes to the forefront of his mind.

"Are they dead?" he asked bluntly, allowing the boy a moment of his complete attention.

Liam shrugged again. Alex frowned.

"What, nobody's told you? How'd you end up in here?"

Liam hesitated before answering this time.

"… My parents."

It only took him a second to place the anxiety, the fear, and the self recrimination that hung so heavily in the boy's large, sad eyes. Alex understood now. His parents hadn't died. They were the ones that put him into the hospital in the first place.

Alex took a step towards him, but didn't move beyond that. Instead, he just allowed his calm gaze to wash over the boy. Liam's expression turned inquisitive.

"Alex?" he said, testing the name out on his tongue. "If you're not my new doctor, why are you here? Are you here for the same reason as me?"

Alex held up his arm, allowing the white sleeve to slip down and expose the heavy bandages. Then he showed the kid his side. When he looked this time, he discovered a tiny red dot in the middle of the large white padding. That wasn't good – he'd been hoping that particular throbbing was only from muscle damage.

"How'd that happen?" the boy asked, his wide eyes taking in the damage with child-like awe. Alex gave the kid a dazzling grin.

"What if I told you I was a government spy?"

"Are you _serious?_" Liam's eyes bulged. There wasn't a hint of disbelief on his face.

"Totally. I was captured the other night trying to rescue a few of my friends. Actually, this one on my side, that's from getting shot."

"With a _gun?"_ Liam gasped, totally impressed. Alex had a sarcastic answer prepared on his tongue, but stopped when he remembered he was talking to a child.

"Yup," he replied instead.

"Hol-ey!" Liam exclaimed. "You must be really important!"

"Eh," Alex said. "There are more important people. Apparently I'm not even important enough to warrant more than two guards," he muttered near the end, more for himself than Liam's benefit, "so how important can I _really_ be?"

He was ignoring the fact that they'd strapped him down, drugged him, considered him immobile due to serious injury and _still_ felt the need to assign him two guards, but that kind of blatant underestimation did not deserve any of his sympathies.

"I don't warrant _any_ guards," Liam said, looking a little more troubled after his spur of wonder. "They told me I wouldn't need any."

Alex stilled, becoming serious. "Do you miss your parents, Liam?"

Liam dropped his gaze, bunching his small fingers into the tough hospital blankets. There was that look again – a myriad of emotions much too complex for any child of his age to be displaying. Alex felt like he was seeing what many people must have seen looking at him in the past.

"Do you?" he pressed.

Liam's face crumpled. He appeared almost… ashamed.

"Yes," he whispered.

Alex couldn't resist it any longer. He moved to the side of the bed and swept the little boy into an embrace, mindful of both their injuries. Liam hiccupped, his wide eyes clearly on the verge of tears.

"That's okay," Alex murmured to him. "That's natural. You'll be okay. I can't tell you if you'll ever see them again, but there will be people that will come into your life and become just as important. You can trust me on that one."

Liam's small hands rose to wrap around Alex's waist, although his arms weren't quite long enough to allow his hands to meet at the back. He sniffled, and a soft, muffled sob escaped him.

"Do you promise? You promise it will be different?"

"I promise. It'll be something you'll never be able to imagine yourself worthy of, but you will find it, and it will change everything."

Alex wasn't quite sure what _it_ was. Love? Friendship? There was no real word for the kind of care and respect that he and his makeshift family had for each other. Or maybe that was the word. Family.

"Will it hurt?" Liam asked, and it occurred to Alex that the boy probably didn't quite grasp the concept completely either. He was just blindly going off of a promise that things would get better. Something welled up inside him – a mix of pride and contentedness. He could make that kind of promise now. That was something he could do. For this tiny kid – this innocent little addition to the world – he had something to offer.

"Not at all."

The entire exchange had torn his mind away from everything he'd been focusing so hard on, and of course, Alex lost his only chance.

The door burst open and two large men entered, their eyes immediately falling on Alex without so much as a glance in Liam's direction. Liam pulled his face away from Alex's chest long enough to hiccup again and settle his gaze upon the two newcomers. A small droplet of snot dribbled out of his nose and fell onto the sheets, drawing the entire room's occupants' attention for a split-second. Alex decided toseize the opportunity and leap up, except his feet had gotten tangled in the cords at his feet. He crashed down to the floor, his chin slamming into the linoleum.

"Ouch," he muttered.

Within two seconds the men had descended, yanked him to his feet and slammed a fist into his stomach. Alex tried to double over, but they were working as a team, with one showing Alex's shoulders back against the first one's torso so as to allow for a second blow. In the background, Alex could hear Liam jump up and start shouting, his tears openly falling now. Alex's gaze dropped to examine to his own side, where he could see the red dot had considerably grown. Dizziness had vision swimming dangerously, but just as he was being righted for a third attack, the man delivering the assault stumbled and dropped to all fours with a loud cry.

Liam had leapt off the bed and onto the man's back, arms wrapping around the meaty neck and throwing the large brute off balance. Then, without any further warning, he chomped down onto the man's shoulder right where it met the base of his neck._ A pressure point,_ Alex thought through the haze of pain occupying his mind, _clever kid. Not so clever for getting involved, but…_

Liam was trying to defend him. Injured, against two huge, hardboiled men.

_Oh God, he's like a tiny __**me.**_

The man's size was actually working against him, as it was a sort of crab effect: his large arms could not maneuver the right way in order to remove Liam from his back, so it left him squirming and shouting. In order to help his friend, the first had to let go of Alex, who landed on the floor in an unceremonious heap. He coughed, trying to reclaim the ability to breathe while both his injuries throbbed in protest of the rough treatment. Alex was just barely able to peel his eyelids apart in time to see the other man grab Liam's arm and throw him off of his friend, who was nursing a bleeding neck at that point.

Liam tumbled to the floor, landing hard on his back. When he opened his eyes, the large man was towering over him, and whatever Alex was feeling at the time completely flew out the window at the sight of Liam's sudden terror. No doubt he was reliving the nightmare that landed him there in the first place.

In a second and without any kind of recollection in arriving there, Alex had flung himself between the thug and Liam. His hands landed behind him, providing support as well as a sort of shield around Liam's tiny body. Alex tried to look somewhat intimidating by glaring up at their attacker, but right at that moment he was seized by an excruciatingly painful coughing fit. When it was finally over, he lifted his head and wiped away the blood trickling down from the corner of his lips. He was breathing hard, and must have looked something awful.

_Shit. _

His vision was fading in and out.

Liam's hand seized the back of Alex's coat, fingers curling into the fabric desperately. As though he'd just remembered the boy's presence, Alex's eyes darted back to look at him in surprise. The childlike blue depths were peering fearfully over Alex's shoulders, alternating between looking up at their attacker and then back to Alex's face. Alex's fists tightened.

_Liam just went through all of this. There's absolutely no reason for him to be dragged into this. What the hell is wrong with me?_

Bowing his head, Alex murmured, "Stop."

"What was that?" the thug demanded, grabbing the front of Alex's coat. Unexpectedly, Alex's hand flew up to seize his wrist, keeping him from yanking Alex onto his feet like he seemed to intend.

"I said, _'stop'_."

The ice in Alex's voice froze both attackers, just for a second. It gave Alex a second to speak.

"I'll stop fighting and go with you guys peacefully so long as you leave the kid alone and forget his room number forever. Alright? And I won't even try to get you guys back for the sucker punches."

The two exchanged glances. On one hand, Alex was bleeding and seemingly defeated – they didn't _need_ to make that kind of deal. On the other hand, this was the second time Alex had escaped, and he had been injured the entire time – his co-operation sounded _really_ appealing in that context.

The man across the room was the first to respond. "Fine. But if I can't get that little_ rat _back for what he did to _my neck–_" these words emerged as a snarl, "then it's coming out of _you. _In _pieces."_

"Sounds unpleasant," Alex breathed, leaning back a little bit to better allow air entrance into his lungs. It was way more difficult to breathe than it should be, he reckoned. "'Kay, deal. Gimme a sec."

"Alex…"

Alex twisted his body so he that his stature obscured most of Liam's face and body from the two men's view. Then, he smiled.

"Bye Liam. Remember what I told you."

Tears began falling from the boy's eyes at an even more rapid rate. "No, no, Alex, don't go, please…"

"I don't have much of a choice, kiddo. I told you earlier I'd been captured, didn't I?"

"B-b-but… they'll rescue you, right? The Queen will rescue you?"

Amusement wound its way into Alex's expression. "_Oh_ yeah. The Queen loves me. We do tea every Tuesday."

His joke went underappreciated by the sniffling child. He had yet to uncurl his fists from Alex's coat, but luckily, there was no need to coax him out of it. One of the men grabbed Alex's good arm and pulled him to his feet, wrenching the fabric away from the kid. Alex swayed but didn't take his eyes off of Liam, still grinning down at the anguished face.

"Hey, don't worry so much about me, Liam. I escaped twice. It's not like I won't do it again."

"You'll come visit me again in the hospital?"

"Depends on if I ever find out which hospital this is."

"Shut up!" the thug shook Alex, rattling his bones. Alex was sort of glad for the man's grip, because he was sure he wouldn't have the strength to stay on his feet by himself, and that would just be embarrassing. "We're going!"

"Bye Liam!"

"_Alex!_" Liam was still blubbering. Alex was half dragged out of the room, waving until the door closed and Alex received his final look at Liam's grief-stricken expression. Then he was slammed against the wall, bringing more blood to the forefront of his throat. He swished it around his mouth before smiling, the red coating his teeth giving it a chilling effect. They both frowned.

"Shit…"

"I thought he was recovered enough to…"

"Oh God, at this point, _who cares…"_

"Well if he dies then there was no point to any of this in the first place, was there? Don't touch his stomach again."

"What're you guys talking about? Can I join in this conversation?"

"For fucks sake, just knock the bastard out."

And a second later, Alex found himself blissfully unaware of anything.

0o0o0o0o

* * *

Snake, Fox, Eagle and Wolf were gathered in the living room of Wolf's house. Snake was looking around at the mess with heavy distaste, recalling the good old days when Alex was present to keep the place looking sharp. The other two were still marveling in the news that Alex was alive. Eagle had only said a few words to Sadie for the past five days, and although she herself was seriously shaken by the death of someone she knew – an active piece of the unit she considered close friends – she'd worried more about Eagle's state of mind. Apparently all of them had had a hard time eating and sleeping. Fox actually broke into tears when Wolf told him the news of Alex's survival.

"I knew it," he'd whispered, laughing and rubbing his face, "I knew he wouldn't die. Oh, Christ, I'm so relieved…!"

"Yeah, well, don't be too relieved. It's not as though he's safe. We have no idea where he is."

"So what's the plan, then?"

Wolf and Snake exchanged looks. It was Snake who uttered the next few words.

"How mad would you guys be if we said MI6…?"

"_What?_" Eagle exclaimed, standing straight up. "We're asking _MI6_ for help?"

"Ugh, I know. It puts a bad taste in my mouth just _thinking_ about it," Wolf spat. Snake shot him a look.

"Wolf…"

"Sorry, sorry…"

"Guys, let's just take a step back here. Remember what happened when we decided we could handle all this on our own? This has only gotten_ bigger_ since then. They have _Alex Rider._ If MI6 is already aware of this fact, then so are the rest of the world powers. He isn't just an asset to England. The UN is without a doubt in _complete chaos_ right now."

The group stared at Fox, who'd finally put it into perspective for them. Alex wasn't just an enigma. He was a top secret _celebrity._

Fox's s expression remained serious, and Wolf took a deep breath. It was time for him to step the bloody hell up.

"Fox is… _right_… you guys."

Snake gave a small nod, while Eagle's expression went from outraged to dumbstruck. He was gaping at Wolf by the time the man began to speak.

"Alex was taken from one of Britain's _own hospitals._ We don't know anything about this "Capricorn" organization. We have zero sources of information or real ammunition. I mean, _shit_… we all know I'm the last to admit this, but the unavoidable truth of the matter is… _we_ _need_ _help."_

He swallowed hard, shuffling his feet and summoning up as much strength as he could muster. It took a lot of courage to for him to openly admit to any kind of weakness, and these were his _best friends_. It had been drilled into him to always be strong for them, even in the face of complete peril.

Wolf hesitated once, bit his tongue, and then plowed on.

"We can't fail again, guys. Or Alex dies for_ real _this time. We've been given a second chance for God-knows-why, but if there's one thing I _am_ certain about in all this, it's that I can't… I _can't_ _go_ through that again."

He took a moment to look each and every one of them in the eyes.

"And my guess is, none of you can, either."

Eagle's gaze dropped to the floor in submission. Snake had crossed his arms over his chest and was now peering at Wolf with an odd, newfound respect in his eyes. Fox stubbornly refused to look anyone in the face, although he did eye the unopened tissue box across the room with what may have been desire. After allowing the seriousness of his words enough time to sink in, Wolf cleared his throat and asked gruffly,

"So, are we under agreement for the enlistment of MI6?"

Eagle snorted, but gave a nod, anyway. Fox and Snake copied the motion.

"Good. Now… let's make some calls.

0o0o0o

* * *

"_YOU KNEW! I FUCKING KNEW IT!"_

Fox and Eagle were looking at each other with the subtlest smirks they could get away with. For all the maturity Wolf had shown earlier that day, he was already back to yelling. The remaining members of K-unit were currently waiting with their backs against the wall outside room 412, the corner office of bank executive whatever-he-was-calling-himself Alan Blunt. Wolf had gone in to speak to Blunt with a cool, albeit frigid expression after Fox had called around a little, and it wasn't ten minutes later that the sound of a chair hitting the ground and pens scattering across the floor hit them all.

Some quieter speaking could be heard just after this, as well as a more forceful hiss of "_Sit down, Lieutenant Novara!"_ A few minutes more minutes had to pass before the door finally opened and a tired-looking Mrs. Jones gestured them in, but when the three looked around, their smirks only grew.

Both guest chairs had been kicked over. Blunt's things had been thrown to the ground, and the man himself was leaning back in his chair pinching the bridge of his nose. Mrs. Jones popped something small and round into her mouth, and Snake had a feeling it wasn't a mint.

Wolf stood next to the door, his expression still openly hostile. The storminess of his eyes alone was enough to drive any unseasoned soldier running for the hills. Fortunately, K-unit had dealt with a _much_ scarier Wolf.

Eagle glanced between Wolf and Mrs. Jones, who was eyeing Wolf warily.

"You think this is unpleasant? You should see him when he's hungry."

"Or tired," Fox chimed in.

"I'm not a baby!" Wolf all but roared, prompting Blunt to cut in with a drawl of,

"Now, now, Lieutenant, we've sat through your theatrics. I'd appreciate if we could move onto the real reason you're here."

Wolf took a minute to calm his breathing and force his fury back. Even if the way Blunt phrased it had pissed him off even more, he knew the man was right in his claim that they needed to move forward. He took a deep breath, glancing around at each one of K-unit's members before speaking.

"We are ready to take you up on your offer of assistance now."

There was a beat of silence, where K-unit's amusement increased to a near-palpable level. Wolf, standing just in front of his three comrades, stood blissfully unaware of their smothered grins and repressed laughter going on behind him.

Alan Blunt blinked, his mouth opening slightly. Eagle snorted at the expression.

"Offer of assistance?"

"Yes. We will let you help us find Alex now."

Blunt stared. And stared some more. And then, abruptly, something that Mrs. Jones had never once in all her years working for her superior imagined possible happened. Alan Blunt started to laugh.

It started as a low rumble, which turned into a chuckle of sorts. From there it just grew, until the man was wheezing with laughter. Mrs. Jones' eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates, until she was openly gaping at the man. The room was completely silent other than Blunt's laughing, and the minute that it took before he eventually settled down felt like hours to everyone else. When he'd resumed his stoic stature, all occupants were left speechless.

Fox was the first to speak.

"… Oh my God, I cannot wait to tell Cub what just happened to us."

"Mr. Blunt…" Mrs. Jones murmured softly in stupefaction.

Blunt was wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. "… Yes, well, pardon me for my outburst, but I don't think I've ever heard something so absurd in my entire career. Not even from Alex."

"Not even from Alex?" Snake repeated, slightly surprised. That boy was only _the_ self-proclaimed King of Sass. Blunt nodded gravely, clearing his voice.

"Furthermore… despite never having actually issued any offer of help to you… I accept."

"Mr. Blunt!" Mrs. Jones repeated, now completely flabbergasted. Wolf seemed unsure, as though his immediate cooperation seemed a little too good to be true. Shouldn't they be arguing? Shouldn't Blunt be angry for the show of disrespect on their (his) part? Noticing Wolf's expression, Blunt flashed a brief, empty smile, completely different from the one that had stretched across his face during his laughing fit.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm being so agreeable after you've acted with such obvious impertinence. The four of you are only considered such a massive asset to us because of your ties with Alex Rider. As you all know, he is not an easy teenager to deal with – or at least he isn't anymore."

"He used to be easier to handle?" Snake asked.

Blunt nodded. "Actually, he used to be much more passive than he is today. While his notoriety was still in the development stages, Alex resisted, but he was much more easily persuaded."

"Persuaded or blackmailed?" Wolf snapped. Mrs. Jones surprised everyone by stepping next.

"Alex Rider has grown exponentially since he first began working for us three years ago. He has gained more confidence, as well as since found a sense of pride in his work."

"Yeah, that and he actually gets paid now," Fox muttered contemptuously.

"His talent is now shared among a few different countries, big and small. He is among the highest paid operatives in the entire world. Do you have any idea what that kid is _worth?_ We spend millions of dollars every year protecting him. Organizations are _always_ after him. And while we usually catch them before they get close enough to alert him of their existence, Capricorn is _huge._ We only just learned of them after they decided to target Alex. If you had called us earlier, then a lot of this could have been avoided, I hope you know–"

"Save it, Mrs. Jones," Wolf cut in. "We had our reasons for not calling you. Let's deal with the here and now."

"Oh," Fox chimed in, looking thoughtful, "I have one more question for you, Mrs. Jones. Are you aware of Alex's fear of thunder?"

Mrs. Jones' whole expression changed. Worry and fear crossed through her eyes, and most shocking of the emotions identified? Actual, legitimate _care._

"Oh, no," she murmured. "So that's still happening?"

"The paralysis, migraines and general uselessness on stormy nights?" Wolf said. "Yep."

"It's a rare form of PTSD," Mrs. Jones revealed, looking faintly upset. "Not exactly a fear. I don't think Alex is bothered by the weather conditions in a literal sense of fear that he'll be struck down by lightning. The trigger just happened to manifest in the form of thunder, I suppose. At least that's what the psychiatrist told us."

"Psychiatrist?" Eagle inquired.

"'Us'?" Fox said.

Mrs. Jones looked uncomfortable. She hesitated, and then glanced at Blunt. He offered her a near-imperceptible nod.

"Alex was required to attend a psychiatrist for a while," she began to explain little by little. "It only lasted four months. He refused to go after that. Nothing we could say or do would make him go."

The general message of "I can relate" was conveyed through various mumbles. SAS shrinks were the worst – nobody needed to ask _why_ he refused to go. However…

Wolf frowned. "If Alex has been working for you for three years, how come he only needed to see a psychiatrist for four months? Or… what pushed you guys to send him to one in the first place?"

Mrs. Jones looked away and discreetly slipped a mint into her mouth, like the demonstration a nervous habit. "This is not the first time Alex has been captured."

"Duh," Fox said.

"Alex Rider went missing November 19th, 2008. He was detained for one week, and we were not able to rescue him through our own efforts. He managed to escape on his own, and did not speak for several days after."

K-unit froze as a whole. This was new. Of course Alex had been captured before – most good operatives had at least several times. It just came with the job. But the news that he'd been so damaged by the experience that he was rendered speechless for any amount of time afterward was something else entirely.

"It was during this time that Alex was taken to come live with me. Alex stayed in my home for two of the four months that he attended therapy. We don't believe he was physically tortured. Psychological torture was employed, however, and after his first dozen sessions he admitted that the reason he didn't speak to us immediately following the event was partly because of his scrambled psych and partly because he was so mad that we weren't able to prevent the capture in the first place he wanted to give us a good scare."

"Sounds like Alex…" Eagle couldn't help but comment.

"The only things discovered through the months of therapy were the facts that things such as sleep and sensory deprivation as well as solitary confinement played large roles during the week. 'There was lots of talking', I remember him saying once. 'They were always talking to me'. He was never quite the same after that. We managed to decimate the group responsible for this capture – it was very small, so while they were easy to destroy, it was for this reason that they were originally able to slip under the radar. The few people involved were also extremely powerful. Each one had a history of other terrorist activities. We only captured about half of them – the whereabouts of the rest are unknown."

"Holy shit… _why?_" Fox asked. "Why did they go to all that trouble?"

"It was a very odd case," Mrs. Jones explained, "as well as an extremely rare one. There are few reported cases of this kind of prisoner treatment. Usually when a terrorist organization captures one of our more renowned operatives, they want either money, information, or they intend to do a prisoner trade. Information is by far the most popular motive behind capture – that's where the physical torture comes in. However, the goal of this group was not to kill Alex, nor extract information from him. They were trying to make him useless not only to us, but to the rest of the world's intelligence agencies. And without physically damaging him, they could still use him as a trading piece."

"So they were going to completely destroy any kind of worth he had to you guys without your knowledge," Wolf said very slowly, as if he was having difficulty wrapping his mind around the idea, "… and then use him as a hostage."

"Yes," Mrs. Jones confirmed. "As I said, this is an extremely rare situation. However, it is Mr. Blunt and my belief that this is once again the case. We need to work together and find Alex as quickly as we can. We have already been delayed five days. It isn't just Alex's life that's in danger anymore. Alex's mind, personality and memories could be _erased._ There is no more time to waste, do you understand?"

Wolf's face hardened.

"I understand perfectly, Mrs. Jones."

0o0o0o0o

* * *

Sorry about the repetition in the beginning; the different POV made it pretty much unavoidable. I hope it wasn't too distracting!

Alex got the first 5000 words of his chapter, the greedy bastard. He is so cheeky in this one, too. I like to think I'm keeping him somewhat in-character most of the time, but lolnope, those are my own delusions. Don't poison me with your reality! Or actually, do, if it means the poisoning will be done in the form of a review. I love those. Did I say that already? Thanks a ton, by the way! I just hit five hundred and I couldn't be happier! Who knew this story would make it that far? Shout-out to . for claiming the number! You're awesome :)

UN=United Nations, for anyone who didn't know. Google that business. Shame on you.

A note for this chapter: as I started this story two years ago, my timeline has it down that this is all happening in March of 2010. Just mentioning this because of Mrs. Jone's date dropping up there.

**Next chapter: **The clock is ticking for Alex…


	22. New Kids on the Block

"_Yes," Mrs. Jones confirmed. "As I said, this is an extremely rare situation. However, it is Mr. Blunt and my belief that this is once again the case. We need to work together and find Alex as quickly as we can. We have already been delayed five days. It isn't just Alex's life that's in danger anymore. Alex's mind, personality and memories could be erased. There is no more time to waste, do you understand?"_

_Wolf's face hardened._

"_I understand perfectly, Mrs. Jones."_

o0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 22

**New Kids on the Block**

"Are you sure it's okay we didn't tell the girls that Alex isn't dead?"

Wolf sighed. Eagle always was the one with the conscience. He had hoped that the man would shut up after the third rebuke Wolf delivered.

"For the last fucking time Eagle, this is what's best for now. We don't know what's going to happen on this mission. Either Alex shows up at their front door for a teary reunion a few days from now or… he doesn't. There's no point in telling them yet. Not when Alex is still out there."

"Yeah, but still…" Eagle squirmed. "I don't like lying about it. I feel… dirty."

"That's probably from not showering in four days," Snake griped.

"It's not lying, Eagle, it's just withholding certain information," Fox piped up.

"Spoken like a true former MI6 agent…" Wolf muttered, causing Fox to roll his eyes.

"Look, you don't tell Sadie what kind of sandwich you ate for lunch. Doesn't mean you're lying about it."

"Actually, I usually do tell Sadie that–"

"But isn't this exactly what Wolf was yelling at MI6 for doing yesterday? How can none of you feel like a hypocrite right now?"

"Who says I don't feel like a hypocrite?" Wolf said, taking a swig of water from the water bottle in his hand. "Your mistake is in thinking I give a shit."

But Eagle was watching Wolf. He was watching him as sharply as his namesake might. And he could see in Wolf's hands everything the man was currently feeling. He was holding that bottle far tighter than needed – his nails had scratched light gouges into the plastic label. They were also just barely noticeably shaking. Eagle abruptly stood up.

Three pairs of curious eyes – one blue, one hazel, and one brown – all peered up at him in surprise. Eagle was only looking at Wolf, however. Wolf's lips were partially parted with the water bottle still poised inches away from his mouth, but he could tell Wolf knew exactly what Eagle was standing up for.

"I–" he started in a strangled voice, frowning and meeting each one of the groups eyes before returning to Wolf's. "I told Sadie we were being deployed for an indefinite amount of time. She was so upset. So I can't leave her for too long without returning with the good news. And…"

His eyes burned into Wolf's. "I know we can save him."

Wolf's mouth was dry. The message was clearer than day: this was Eagle's acknowledgment of Wolf. His mind flickered back to what Eagle had said to him on the previous rescue – "So _we're_ going to save them._ You_ can wait for us in the car." If Wolf hadn't known Eagle forgave him before, this was certainly the affirmation. He swallowed uncomfortably.

"You think so?"

"Yeah," Eagle said softly, a small smile creeping into his serious expression. "United we stand, divided we fall, right?"

What happened at that warehouse was something Wolf took direct responsibility for, in full. With those words Eagle distributed the blame equally to all of them. Snake and Fox gave small, barely discernible nods. And although they'd been saying it all along, it was the first time Wolf felt truly_ supported _under the massive weight that threatened to make him one with the sidewalk. To his absolute horror, his eyes began to itch, and he stood right up and grabbed the man in a tight hug so that nobody could see how pathetically emotional he was getting over Eagle's short speech.

Eagle didn't gawk at the fact that Wolf just initiated an embrace. He didn't make any comments or push him away or joke about his sexuality. He just grinned and wrapped his arms around his superior and squeezed. The exchange lasted about five seconds before Wolf was back where he'd started and staying far away from any and all eye contact. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"… Thanks," he said gruffly.

Eagle grinned again.

"We'd better get going, yeah?"

0o0o0o

* * *

The four men stood in front of a private airplane alongside J-unit, a group of fairly new SAS soldiers. They were chosen because they had apparently gotten the best results out of all the other men they'd trained with for each of their fields, so naturally, K-unit immediately disliked them.

There was also two other men scheduled to come on the mission with them – a medium-built fair-haired man who'd jovially introduced himself as Agent Sanders and a slightly taller Asian man who'd followed him in a much softer voice with Agent Kobayashi. The group of ten men stood before an obese middle-aged MI6 agent that had called himself Smithers, who was currently dabbing at the corner of his eyes with a frilly pink handkerchief.

"The purpose of this mission is to rescue Agent Rider," he sniffled, drawing more than a few disturbed looks from the gathered men. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Oh, goodness, I'm just so relieved he's alive…" he explained to one of the men-in-black who approached him after another minute of crying. Smithers sucked in a deep breath, and his voice strengthened.

"Listen up, men!"

A second later he was crying again. Wolf glanced over at one of the men standing behind him – it was his old SAS supervisor from Brecon Beacons. The older man was rolling his eyes as he stepped forward, placing a hand on Smithers's shoulder and directing him back towards the car.

"As you can see, Smithers cares much for this… boy!" he barked, sending glares at the eight men from his camp. "You don't want to see him cry _again_, do you?"

"Sir no sir!" they immediately responded out of learned militant habit.

"You will follow all orders and make necessary judgment calls when it is required of you, correct?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"THE SAS SEND HUMANS NOT ROBOTS FOR THAT EXACT REASON, YES?"

Sanders rubbed his ears absently.

"SIR YES SIR!"

"The object of his mission is to safely retrieve Agent Rider from the clutches of this bitch-ass organization, AM I CLEAR?"

"S-sir yes sir!"

"WHO THE _FUCK_ JUST STUTTERED?"

Silence.

"_WHO DID IT?"_

A short, young man stepped forward. He had a tiny, pointed nose and large blue eyes, with features that were almost feminine. "Me, sir!"

"Do we have some kind of misunderstanding,_ Tiger?_"

Eagle snickered. The commanding officer whipped around to face the still-giggling soldier, who was muffling his laughter into his hands.

"SOMETHING FUNNY, EAGLE?"

"H-his name, sir!"

"You think it's funny that Tiger's codename is _Tiger, _soldier?_"_

"Sir yes sir!"

Tiger looked down at his feet.

"Good!" he bellowed. "It was a joke! The other officers and I got a laugh out of it, too!"

Eagle could no longer contain himself and burst out into loud peals of laughter. He was promptly rewarded with a backhand to the face. Eagle cradled his wounded cheek, pouting at the commander.

"Now get it out of your system and if anybody stutters or laughs again they're gonna be pulling knives and forks out of their parachutes, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"SIR YES SIR!"

0o0o0o

* * *

The airplane was built more luxuriously than anything K-unit had ever experienced before. That is to say, it was about as extravagant as flying coach. But nobody was about to tell them that.

Wolf was currently checking his gun, disassembling and reassembling it over and over again. It provided a good distraction for him, since he really did hate flying. Fox's eyes flickered over in his direction, and the man couldn't keep himself from asking,

"Wolf, if you're scared of planes, why would you join the Special _Air_ Service?"

"Who's scared of flying?" Wolf demanded quickly without looking up. "Not me."

"Yeah, yeah," Fox sighed, reclining his chair and shutting his eyes.

"Fox, you just reclined your chair in my face," Snake informed him.

"Deal with it."

"Bitch!"

"Don't call me a bitch, bitch!"

"Are we there yet?" Eagle called into the cockpit, addressing the pilot.

The pilot lifted a hand from the wheel in order to pinch the bridge of his nose, trying to ward of his growing headache.

They just _had_ to pick K-unit, didn't they?

Meanwhile, J-unit was keeping to themselves. It consisted of four men not unlike K-unit, if a little younger, less hardened and better-for-wear. Tiger especially was stubbornly keeping his gaze away from the group's antics – he seemed to still be sore about Eagle's laughter. Wolf, who'd examined them before boarding the plane, had been able to conclude that the leader was a man called Lynx, while the medic was called Shark. Lynx clearly favored Shark – he kept a quiet conversation with the man the whole way, with only occasional comments being made to the other two men. They kept an air of professionalism about them that Wolf could not remember his unit maintaining even in the beginning of their careers – it was somewhat irritating.

A light bulb seemed to brighten above Eagle's head. He spun around, having found a solution to his boredom, and sent Tiger a dazzling smile.

"Sorry about the laughing back there, mate," he said amicably. "To be honest, I don't think Wolf's codename much suits him either."

Wolf's dark, predatory eyes flickered over to the pair, and Tiger had to repress a shudder of unease. If anybody's codename fit them to a T, it was Wolf's.

"Even my own is pretty off. It's Eagle, right. Y'know I used to wear glasses?"

"No you didn't," Snake said without looking up from the magazine he'd opened – _Home Living. _Who did this private airplane normally belong to?

"Dammit, Snake," Eagle berated him, shooting him a ruffled look. Then he turned back to Tiger. "Is this your unit's first mission?"

Tiger nodded.

"Oh, fun! You got a good one. Our first mission was in Kandahar. We had to sleep with sheep… which wasn't actually so bad, since they're wooly and stuff. And we all fell asleep pretty quickly, since there were plenty to count!"

Lynx's eyes almost imperceptibly moved to Eagle and back again. Wolf glared.

"Eagle, you're annoying them."

Eagle looked scandalized. "I am not! Tiger, am I annoying you?"

Tiger quickly shook his head.

"See? Now who's your friend here?"

The fourth member of the unit sat next to Tiger. His skin was smooth and olive-toned, and he had startlingly light green eyes – in fact, the man could have been model judging by how high his cheeks bones were and if not for the military uniform he wore. Eagle looked slightly taken aback when he was met with the aqua gaze.

"Wow," he said. "What is a man like you doing in the SAS?"

"I get that a lot," he rumbled in a low, deep voice. "I'm Hawk."

"No kidding!" Eagle cried. "Well, that explains your good looks. We're birds of a feather!"

"Eagle, for the love of God, just _shut up_…"

"Yes, _please_," Shark mumbled under his breath, and silence echoed in the plane. Shark looked up from the map he was holding, slightly alarmed. All four men of K-unit were staring at him.

Snake was the first to speak.

"Look, let's just get something straight. We can tell Eagle to shut up. You can't."

Shark's eyes narrowed. A severe kind of anger entered into his eyes. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Fox told him, leaning forward slightly. "It is. We've known this guy for years. You're going to have to be respectful for a little longer than two hours before you get to speak to him so carelessly."

Shark stood up. Lynx immediately did the same, placing a hand on Shark's shoulder. The two seemed to communicate through a look before Shark sat down once again.

"I apologize," he said. "That was disrespectful."

"No worries," Eagle smiled, and the tension in the air immediately dissipated. "We all need to get along, right?"

"In return for his politeness, you should shut up, Eagle," Snake suggested brightly, earning him a smack from said soldier. Fox turned around in his chair in order to get a look at the two agents, Sanders and Kobayashi.

Sanders was fast asleep, his face to the ceiling and his mouth wide open. Kobayashi was staring straight ahead of him, as though there was some kind of incredibly important document printed into the back of Hawk's chair.

"You guys partners?" he asked the man, who turned towards him without changing his expression.

"Yes."

"I used to be in MI6," Fox told him. "Not for me."

"Yes," Kobayashi said again. "It is not for many."

Fox studied the agent carefully. "Have you met C… Agent Rider?"

Kobayashi briefly smiled before glancing out the window, and although it didn't look out of place on his face, it was still strange. "No."

"Why's that funny?" Fox asked curiously. Kobayashi looked at him again.

"Not many have. He is a very important person, but much secrecy surrounds him. The less people he becomes personally acquainted with, the better. Only people directly involved with his missions would be permitted to contact him."

"I thought he's been on tons of missions."

"Certainly more than any child his age should."

Fox noted how Kobayashi considered the seventeen-year-old a child. It was not said with jealousy or menace, however; just cool detachment. "He does most of them alone, or with the same limited amount of people each time."

Fox wasn't sure he'd ever get used to Alex's fame among the international intelligence agencies. To him he was just a punk kid with a really good sense of humor and wicked aim. This was a dignified secret government agent of twenty-five or thirty, and he did not have the clearance to associate with _the kid_.

"… Huh," Fox finally said. "So why were you and Sanders sent?"

"You eight are here for the brute force it will take to get Alex Rider out of the enemies clutches. We are here to search, negotiate and retrieve some important documents. We may need your help for that, too."

Fox frowned. "We weren't briefed about that."

Kobayashi lifted his briefcase and opened it before taking out some files. "It's all in here."

Fox took the files from Kobayashi and briefly skimmed them before checking for signs of forgery. He nodded. "May I pass these on to my unit?"

Kobayashi nodded. "Please."

Fox turned around to tug on Snake's sleeve before handing him the papers and gesturing at Eagle and Wolf. His eyes passed over J-unit as well, and Snake nodded to show he understood.

The rescue mission was not as simple as it seemed. They didn't actually know where Alex Rider was being held, and unfortunately, none of the phone calls Wolf had had with him were long enough to provide a location trace. That left them with tracking just the phones themselves – there had been two of them, and even though they couldn't trace where the phone calls had been made from, they could trace the actual phones back to their sales – where they were purchased, to whose name, billing address, etc. The first one was registered to one Alfred Louis; the second, an American woman called Jeanette Styles – both in towns within kilometers of each other.

They were beginning with Louis, because they had yet to get a hold of Styles. The plane landed at the Carlisle Airport in Cumbria, Northwest England, and when the ten men finally stepped foot on land, Wolf threw up and Kobayashi turned to Lynx and Snake.

"We have arranged for cabs to be waiting for you out front. Keep your phones on and wait for our call."

Sanders was rubbing his eyes and yawning as he followed Kobayashi to their own sleek black vehicle. Fox's hands balled into fists.

"Hey, wait! What, we're just supposed to wait in a hotel until you guys tell us something?"

Kobayashi turned around, eyebrows raised. "Yes, that is correct."

"We're not useless!" Snake snapped. "There's a lot of ground to cover here, and we don't have much time – the more people gathering info, the better. It's not as though the only thing we've been trained to do is throw our fists around!"

Wolf wiped his mouth and gratefully took a handkerchief from Tiger. He raised his eyes up to Snake from where he was hunched over. "Snake, stop."

Snake froze before slowly turning around to stare at Wolf. "What?"

"I said stop. Don't argue with him. There's no point. Let's just get in the cab."

By this time all three remaining members of K-unit had their incredulous gazes glued to Wolf's straightening form. "Wolf…?" Eagle ventured.

"Come on; let's get going."

He set off in the direction of the doors, and after a beat and a couple mixed glances, K-unit scurried after them. Shark's lip curled.

"What a bunch of fools…" he growled, but Lynx waved him off.

"Don't be so sure," the man said with a smile, breaking his serious composure for the first time since they'd boarded the plane. He looked out at the darkening sky before his gaze moved back to his unit. The two agents were long gone, leaving the four of them as the last ones to leave.

"Let's follow their lead," he said.

"Not the whole time, I hope?" Shark said.

"I don't know – I wouldn't mind," Tiger said, bouncing along behind them. Out of the presence of strangers, he became much more talkative.

"That's cause you've fallen in love with that Eagle one," Shark retorted, silencing Tiger and drawing a huff of mirth out of Lynx. Hawk took the rear, saying quietly,

"You don't suppose they actually plan to wait for their call, do you?"

This time, Lynx outright laughed.

"You've got to be kidding."

0o0o0o

* * *

"Hello, Alex."

Light.

Alex drew in a sharp lungful of air before squeezing his eyes shut against the sudden aching brightness that assaulted him. Squinting, he tried to make out the figure walking towards him, but he couldn't tell if it was man or woman, young or old, short or tall. Something cold encompassed his face, leaving him sputtering and cold, and it took him the rest of the minute to realize that it had been water and he was sitting in the middle of a room.

Dread seeped out from the pit of his stomach. This wasn't a torture chamber.

It was a kitchen.

"Whahha…" he slurred before shaking his head. "Dihighhays _drhhuh_ mhh?"

He frowned. That answered _that_ unintelligible question. They had _definitely_ drugged him.

"You'll regain your speech in a couple minutes. I wonder if you will talk to me."

This time he spared himself the humiliation and kept silent. His thoughts were still taking a lot longer than they normally did, but at least he could process that much. He blinked continuously, trying to make out the person standing before him. The voice sounded high, but he wasn't sure if he could identify it as feminine.

Minutes passed.

"Alex? Do you know where you are?"

Minutes passed.

"Alex?"

"M… am I inna kitchen…?"

"Yes. Why are you in a kitchen?"

"Hell'f I know."

"Alex?"

"Mmm?"

"I am going to cut off your finger and boil it like a carrot."

His eyes had begun to close, but at this they flung open and his hands automatically seized. "_What?_"

"Are you hungry?"

The countertops were blue. Or were they orange? Those colors had never felt interchangeable until now. The voice was female – he was sure of it. And American. The blur in front of him was gold and white.

"I-I…" He was starving. The hunger, empowered by its sudden recognition, seemed to take this chance to begin tearing at the inside of his stomach, clawing out bit chunks of flesh and digesting that in place of nourishment. Alex's eyes widened and he started to breath really, really fast. What if they fed him his own finger? But if they didn't feed him his stomach was going to rip his body apart!

He moaned.

Minutes passed.

There was a sharp, whistling noise. When Alex looked up, the blur had focused into a woman: Dr. Feelgood. She stood in front of him next to a table with a wooden docking for kitchen knives. The noise had come from her withdrawal of one – it was large and pointed. Now she dangled it in front of him with her fingers, making the metal sheen with fluorescent light.

"Are you hungry, Alex?"

"Stop saying that," he whispered, shaking his head as the horrible sensation in his stomach began to return.

"Are you hungry, Alex?"

He shouldn't have told her not to do it.

"K… keep saying that, then," he tried in a weak attempt at reverse psychology.

"Are you hungry?"

He groaned again, his arms straining at their bonds to get free so he could clutch his stomach. It must be bleeding internally now. He would be gurgling up his own blood at any given moment, he was sure.

"Would you like a carrot?"

"_No!"_ he immediately shouted, not understanding where his sudden aversion to carrots had come from. Actually, he would like a carrot. Or broccoli, even. Hell, he hated brussel sprouts, but even _those_ sounded appealing.

But when _she_ said it…

"Would you like a plate of fingernails?"

He choked, looking up at her in horror and hoping to God she wasn't about to present him with one. "_No!_ For the love of–"

The world tilted.

Minutes passed.

Then it was dark.

There was a dripping.

He guessed that if he was still in the kitchen, it was probably the sink. _Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…_ He tried to silence his breathing, to make himself quieter than the air so that he might perhaps evaporate with it – but that tapping was distracting him, and it wouldn't stop, and he'd forgotten how to breathe, and suddenly he was gasping in oxygen, and someone else was there.

He wasn't sure when he'd passed out, but he woke up shaking, and he had a feeling that it had nothing to do with the icy wetness that had encompassed him once more. This time when he looked up, his eyes were narrowed and bloodshot, and they met with a pair of familiar dark eyes. Alex's breath hitched.

"_Wolf…" _he breathed.

Indeed, the built man stood over him, his harsh gaze unforgiving. He did not smile, nor did he move to untie Alex. Alex stared up at him, his skin clammy and hot despite the freezing water still present on his skin. He tried to locate the door into whatever room he was being held in now – it wasn't a kitchen… but now he couldn't remember why he would even think he'd be being held in a kitchen…

"How did you get in? God – where _am_ I, even…?"

"You don't need to know," Wolf told him. "You're not leaving."

Alex froze, his golden-brown eyes flickering back up to Wolf's hard, obsidian ones. The man took a step away from Alex, then another, and then slowly began pacing around the chair Alex was tied to.

"You're not going anywhere, Alex. The world doesn't need you. It doesn't _want_ you. Do you _really_ believe it does?"

Alex's heart was pounding. "What are you saying…?"

Wolf stopped suddenly and leaned in, but when he spoke to Alex, there was no heat from his breath. Alex was still freezing. "You would be better off _dead._"

Alex turned his head away, but he kept his eyes focused on Wolf's. He tried to ignore the stinging feeling those words enacted in his body. The bottoms of his feet were prickling, and it felt like there were ants crawling underneath his fingernails. Wolf shouldn't be saying those kinds of things to him – Wolf shouldn't even be here… Should he?

… _Should _Alex be here?

"Yes!" Wolf barked. "You should! Do you know why, Alex?"

He shook his head, tensed for the answer. He didn't _want_ to be here – wasn't that reason enough that he shouldn't be? He didn't even understand what was going on anymore.

"Do you know _WHY, ALEX?_"

"N-no," he stammered, staring up at his unit leader. Wolf had never spoken to him like this, not even at Brecon Beacons. He and Wolf… were friends? Alex shook his head as hard as he could – none of his thoughts made any sense! They all contradicted each other!

When he opened his eyes, Wolf was still standing in front of him, only this time he was covered in blood. Alex let out a cry, struggling automatically against his binds as Wolf stepped calmly towards him. Alex was too panicked to try and identify the blood as his or Wolf's – or someone else's entirely.

"Because this is the only place on Earth…" Wolf hissed, "…that you can't get anyone else killed."

He passed out.

When he woke up, Wolf was still standing in front of him, only now the blood that had been soaked into his clothes had expanded into a pool below him. Blood had also since begun to dribble down from between his lips – Alex could taste blood in his own mouth as well.

"Brat," Wolf spat. "I know you think we're friends. I know you think K-unit _likes_ you. It's naïve. It's _pathetic_. You sure have a high opinion of yourself, don't you?"

"No…" Alex whispered, bowing his head so that he wouldn't have to look at the man's glare any longer.

"You wanted me to respect you, huh? Wanted to win my approval? You care about my opinion?"

He didn't reply. The blood had begun to work its way down his chin as well.

"Here's my opinion, you good-for-nothing runt. You don't deserve the approval of the dirt you walk on."

He kept talking, long after Alex stopped giving into his little prompts.

"Why would anybody want to let you into their family? Just look what you did to yours!"

Each time he opened his eyes, the pool of blood had grown. It now layered the entire floor with an inch of still blood, which rippled each time Wolf moved, or Alex's feet twitched.

"You think Sabina likes you? She's only in it for the thrill. I'm surprised she came back at all. She must be some kind of a masochist…"

"Stop," Alex murmured hoarsely.

"You remember Ian? You remember how you felt when you realized he'd never _actually_ loved you? That he'd just been continuing his brother's legacy?"

_Ian loved me,_ Alex thought to himself emptily. "He wanted me to be a spy. Doesn't mean he didn't love me."

"_Naïve_. You _are_ just a child."

Hours later and he was still talking. Alex couldn't fall asleep for a single second of respite.

"Poor Jack can't leave either. Lord knows she's tried, right?"

That was true. He'd watched her pack and unpack her suitcase many times in the dead of night. She never left – he told himself that's what mattered – but it had crossed her mind to. How did _Wolf_ know that, though…?

"Yes, Jack and Sabina – they won't last much longer."

He could feel his eyes dim at the comment. There was no denying or confirming that.

"Not with you, anyway; no one ever does. I should kill you right now."

He leaned in, dragging his feet through the two inches of blood. "Would you like that?"

Alex's breathing slowed. There was no denying or confirming that, either. His mind was a tangled web of different languages and memories jumbled out of chronological order. One did choose to resurface at that moment, however – one of Wolf. It was after he'd been shot for the second time in his seventeen year long life.

_"Listen,"_ Wolf had growled, "_'cause I'm only gonna say this once. Since you first moved in with me, I can safely say I haven't always been there for you. But – but you've always been there for me. Don't stop now."_

Alex met Wolf's eyes for the first time in what felt like days, confident that the man could read his thoughts. For once, Wolf had nothing to say. Emboldened, Alex clenched his eyes shut and looked for more to cling to like that – more to contradict what Wolf was telling him.

_"I'm not going to let you die! I WON'T!"_

His breathing picked up again. He peered up at Wolf, defiance sparking in his eyes. He had his _own_ weapon.

He focused on the time Wolf had come upstairs with warm milk and offered him a movie on a stormy night. How they'd roughhoused and laughed at Eagle and shot insults back and forth – and that's when it hit him:

"You're not Wolf."

Not-Wolf's expression remained unchanged.

"… _Who are you?"_

Not-Wolf smiled. It was a slow, aching grin, one that showed off all his red teeth. And then, all of a sudden, he was grinning at himself in a mirror. Alex Rider stood confidently before him, stretching his arms out before telling him,

"I'm _you."_

He passed out again.

0o0o0o

* * *

"Wake up."

Somebody slapped him. His eyes blearily blinked open, and he was overcome with a sudden nausea – only to realize that he was still tied to a chair and anything that came out of his mouth at that moment would end up all over him. Swallowing, he willed himself to keep down the acid in his stomach, because he knew it held no contents to regurgitate.

"What the hell just happened?" he croaked.

"Shut up."

He turned around, lifted up a bucket and then tossed the contents all over Alex. It was freezing water – Alex gasped against the temperature, shaking his head and glaring at the man.

"What do you _want_?" he grated out.

"For a prisoner, you sure do think you're entitled to a lot of answers."

The man moved to the other side of the room behind Alex's chair, and the door clicked shut just before light blinded him. How many lights did they have in this room? What were they doing – burning magnesium?

Hours passed. Alex had his eyes firmly closed, but the light still strained his eyes through his eyelids. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened to him thus far – he couldn't remember arriving here. All he had recollection of was a horrible experience in a kitchen and a hallucination of Wolf taunting him.

_Maybe there was never a kitchen,_ he thought, _and Dr. Feelgood was never there. I was probably drugged. Wait – yeah… I figured that out already, didn't I? Shit… I must have been here all along._

More hours passed. Despite the light, Alex began to nod off. His chin lowered, and he allowed his breathing to slow. Just then, the door opened, footsteps sounded and he was treated to another bucket of freezing cold water.

His nausea returned as he realized what was going on. This had happened before.

It was November 19th all over again.

Alex struggled to fight the panic welling up inside him, but no to avail. Nobody knew where he was. His captors didn't want information. He was completely powerless.

_Help._

0o0o0o

* * *

Wow. I had it in my head that I'd updated at the beginning of March… turns out it was February. Awks. Sorry for the wait! I did put out a one-shot in the time between, though. And I got some really, really wonderful reviews – I was going through them yesterday and that's what jumpstarted me into finishing this chapter. So as usual, big thanks to everybody! And shout-out to **sapphireswimming **for all of the kind words – my other stories included :)

I'm sorry if this chapter feels a little on the shorter side – it is – but I'll try to make up for it by putting out the next chapter sooner than I put out this one. Also – I know I introduced a lot of OCs in this chapter, but it was somewhat necessary for the arc. They will not impede upon Alex and K-unit's screen time. I have a feeling Wolf would beat me with a stick if they did (and so would many of you). Hope you guys don't hate 'em too much…

As for people asking about whether or not Liam will return… No comment.

**Next chapter:** Alex's desperation heightens, K-unit laughs in the face of authority, and working with MI6 is _never_ as simple as it seems.

PS. Just watched _Live Free or Die Hard_… I'd do Justin Long, just saying.


	23. Carlisle, Cumbria

_More hours passed. Despite the light, Alex began to nod off. His chin lowered, and he allowed his breathing to slow. Just then, the door opened, footsteps sounded and he was treated to another bucket of freezing cold water._

_His nausea returned as he realized what was going on. This had happened before._

_It was November 19th all over again._

_Alex struggled to fight the panic welling up inside him, but no to avail. Nobody knew where he was. His captors didn't want information. He was completely powerless._

_Help._

o0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 23

**Carlisle, Cumbria**

"Nice place," Fox commented absently as they stepped into the hotel. It wasn't the Hilton, but it _was_ nice – easily fifteen times nicer than the barracks the SAS were normally treated to. Wolf grunted, walking toward the front desk and opening his mouth before pausing and turning back around.

"What do you think the reservation is under?" he asked, rubbing his face, and Snake piped up,

"Well it wouldn't be under Wolf… Kobayashi?"

The woman at the front desk smiled.

"Are you four K-unit or J-unit?"

"Right… K-unit… See, _that_ makes sense…"

They refused all offers of assistance in the carriage of luggage and stepped into the elevators minutes after sorting out the deskwork. They were in room 211, which was joined with 212. Each room had two beds, so the four stopped outside of the doors and faced each other.

Snake, Fox, and Eagle all looked at Wolf, who predictably huffed and crossed his arms.

"Ihave to _choose?_" Three solemn gazes stared deep into his eyes. He groaned, properly unnerved.

"What, do you guys think I'm going to pick my favorite? As if! Snake, you're rooming with me because you are the least annoying and I have a headache. Eagle and Fox, try not to rack up _too _high of a room service bill."

"Does this mean I'm not the favorite?" Snake asked as he followed Wolf into 211.

Eagle grinned at Fox. "Do movies count as room service?"

"Does _porn?_" he responded illicitly, hauling his bags through the door. As soon as their stuff was settled and everybody had taken showers and gotten ready for bed, they gathered on the two beds in 211. Fox bounced up and down on the bed, grinning, while Eagle exclaimed with wide arms,

"This is just like a slumber party!"

"You guys have crashed at my place tons of times," Wolf pointed out, annoyed at their enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but this is different! This is in a new and exciting place! And our room is being paid for!"

"Don't forget what we're here for," Wolf snapped. Snake was preparing tea in the background, and the group became subdued and accepted the warm drinks gratefully. Once everyone was calmly settled in, it was time for Wolf to make his usual speech.

"Alright," he began, setting down his cup and placing his hands on his knees. "I do not intend to wait for Condescending Dickhead #1 and #2's call. I said I would _let _MI6 help _us_ find Cub, and that is exactly how I meant it. Sanders and Kobayashi don't have a clue what's actually going on; they're just both vying for promotions and an autograph from '_Agent Rider'_."

At the title, Wolf snorted, and Fox let out a chuckle as well. He really was just Cub to them; he always would be. It was akin to being the sibling of a celebrity – the fame changed nothing.

"Therefore, Fox?"

Fox leaned over and pulled a few files off the table next to them. The documents detailed the information surrounding the phone holders, including their addresses and contact information.

Eagle grinned. "Just 'brute force', huh? Idiot."

After Kobayashi had allowed Fox to pass the papers around to the soldiers, Fox had made sure Snake was the last person to receive the papers. While Fox was looking over them and Eagle occupied everybody's attention, Snake had collected pages out of the magazines and placed them between the first and last documents, snatching the rest and placing them in Fox's carryon bag. Then Wolf had taken the false pile and pretended to sift through it before placing it back in Kobayashi's briefcase with a look in the man's direction, who nodded his approval.

"Eagle, could you please break into the office downstairs and make photocopies of these? Kobayashi and Sanders are going to want them back tomorrow morning, I'm sure."

Eagle gave a short salute before grabbing the documents and darting out the door. Fox and Snake looked to Wolf for further instruction.

"We've got to be out of here by six tomorrow morning, before Sanders and Kobayashi catch up to us. No doubt they're staying in a fancier hotel somewhere closer to town. The papers only provide clearance for investigation of premises for two people – one Kobayashi and one Sanders – so I'll be Sanders and Fox will be Kobayashi since he looks the most Asian out of the four of us."

Fox gawked. "I do not! Snake?"

Snake placed both his hands in the air. "I'm Scottish, mate. And Eagle's blonde. You're the only one with black hair."

Frowning, Fox gave a short nod. "This is _so _not believable."

Wolf rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't look like much of a Sanders, do I?" he replied in reference to his obvious partly Hispanic roots. "But I have to lead this, so we're gonna have to depend on the suspects being somewhat unobservant. Besides, the other scenario is claiming you _married_ someone Asian and took _their_ last name, and you know what that implies."

Fox's cheeks flamed. "Dammit."

"It's not that bad. At least both the agents listed are men. If there was a woman, we'd have some costume preparation to do."

This time, both Snake and Fox paled. "Oh, God. Wolf, please never let me have to see you in a dress."

Wolf grimaced. "Fox, you were still in MI6 when Snake and Eagle and I had to…"

"Wolf," Snake warned, an edge to his voice. "We swore we'd never speak of that again…"

Fox glanced between them. "What's–"

But at that moment, Eagle took the opportunity to burst back into the room and throw the copies into the air. Wolf gave him a pointed look, and he sulkily leaned down to collect them back into his hands. Wolf relayed what they'd decided back to Eagle, and by eleven o' clock the unit had the papers laid out on the table in order to begin scheming.

"Obviously the phone owners will only talk to one Sanders and Kobayashi, so we have to get in and get out before the real agents arrive. As soon as we know more, we ditch them and take matters into our own hands until we need them again."

"Brilliant plan," Fox interjected, "but what about J-unit? What do you suppose _they'll _be doing the entire time – twiddling their thumbs?"

Wolf closed his eyes and began kneading his knuckles into his temples. Snake frowned.

"I have some painkillers in my bag–"

"No," Wolf interjected. "It's fine. If _he_ can deal with a little pain, so can I. Not like there are painkillers where he is."

No one needed to ask who _he_ was, but the trained medic in Snake wouldn't go down without a fight.

"In that case, why don't you sleep on the floor, too? Christ… don't do this, Wolf."

"No," Wolf said again, this time a little more forcefully. "I need my mind in top shape right now, anyway."

Eagle narrowed his eyes at Wolf. Three minds simultaneously thought the same thing: _that's the same reason Alex always turns down painkillers_. Despite the hazardous behavior he was displaying, nobody called him out; it was more a matter of respect. They all nodded and resumed their planning.

Eagle and Fox went back to their room around midnight, leaving Snake and Wolf alone. Wolf immediately tucked himself under his sheets and moved to turn off the lamp, but Snake's hand reached out to catch his wrist. Wolf glanced at him.

"Can I help you?" he said, eyebrows raised. Snake frowned.

"Are you okay?" he asked seriously, letting go of Wolf's wrist now that the message of _keep the light on_ was clear. Wolf's hand fell onto his pillow, which his fingers immediately curled into the cotton sheet.

"I already told you I wasn't taking any of your damn painkillers," he muttered. Snake's forehead creased further.

"That's not what I meant."

Silence. Wolf yawned. "Regarding Cub, then?"

At least he wasn't _totally_ trying to avoid the issue. Snake gave a short nod, watching his leader carefully, with eyes trained to catch the smallest telltale details_. _Wolf recognized that look in Snake's face and sighed. _I should have roomed with Eagle._

"I'm doing everything I can, Snake. What is there to talk about?"

"How you're feeling?" Snake suggested, drawing a snort from Wolf.

"Right," the man agreed sarcastically. "I feel positively peachy, Snake. I have no clue if this is a wild goose chase or not – Cub hasn't contacted me since he told me 'it wasn't over'; I could be collecting a corpse tomorrow – but I'm great. I'm awesome. I don't think I've ever felt this great in my life."

Snake shrugged. "Thanks for sharing."

Wolf huffed and turned over in his bed, muttering, "You're a medic, not a therapist."

"I'm a_ friend_," Snake corrected simply.

"Ugh," Wolf growled, sitting straight up and throwing the sheets off him. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and planted his palms firmly on his knees, staring Snake square in the eye. "Fucking friends, huh? Know-it-all friends who've just _got_ to know _every last detail_ of–"

"Wolf," Snake cut in gently. "It helps to talk about things. We weren't there."

Wolf was silent, brooding in his stare-off with the cheap, patchy red carpet of their suite. After a minute, he exhaled slowly.

"What do you think he will say?" he asked softly.

"When we get him back?"

"… Yeah."

Well," Snake began, rubbing his chin, "I reckon he'll say something like 'thanks for saving me, guys. Dinner's on me.'"

Wolf continued to stare down at the ground, his hands not so much as twitching. Snake's face softened.

"There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that he'll blame you, Wolf."

"I fucked up the mission," Wolf shot back evenly. "I couldn't face the stakes."

"Maybe at the start. But you came back, didn't you? The girls all made it back safe."

"We lost Alex," Wolf said bitterly.

"It always sounds odd when you use his real name," Snake observed.

Wolf's grip tightened on the sheets.

"We didn't lose Alex. We just… misplaced him."

Wolf laughed humorlessly. "Misplaced him right in the line of a bullet."

"None of us blame you, Wolf," Snake insisted.

"I know. When Eagle, back on the plane… well… I know. I… appreciate… I know."

"So long as you know," Snake teased. Wolf shot him a weak glare.

"Shut up. You're the one who asked me to talk about my feelings, you asshole."

"Mm," Snake agreed. "That I did. And I'm glad to have done so, too. I understand you can't truly be free of the guilt you feel until you get Alex back and see for yourself that he's okay. But just … know that we don't tell you that we _don't blame you_ because it's convenient, or it's what you want to hear, or whatever. We all played a part in that mission. And we all disobeyed you at some point – Alex most of all. It's not healthy to repress things; you know that."

"Now you _really_ sound like a shrink," Wolf commented. "It wasn't my intention to repress things, Snake. I…"

Wolf ran a hand through his hair. Snake warily followed the action with his somber gaze.

Eventually, Wolf just shook his head. "You wouldn't understand. When you lead a team, you take responsibility for anything that happens to them – even if what happened was completely unrelated to you. It's not… rational. But Alex most of all – he was a kid. And the way he looked at me… when he was…"

"Accusingly?" Snake guessed.

Wolf was quiet. He brought his face into his hands. "No," he croaked after a while. "Worse."

"How?" Snake pressed, eyes wide.

"You just _don't understand,_ Snake. You_ couldn't _understand it. He looked at me… like he was ready for it. But he looked at _me_."

Snake tried to wrap his mind around what Wolf was telling him, and slowly comprehension dawned. Alex could have been looking for any myriad of things at that moment – reassurance, safety, grief. But that wasn't it.

"It was like he was… asking permission. Or – or requesting… approval. _My approval_. The way he was going to go… And he wasn't angry. I've just… I've never had anybody look at me like that before. It was like he was a – a real soldier–" Wolf broke off there, taking deep breaths through his fingers. Snake gave him a minute to compose himself.

"I'm not crying," Wolf snapped defensively.

"I didn't say you were," Snake replied.

"You were thinking it," Wolf hissed, removing his hands and glaring at Snake. "See?"

Snake nodded.

Another silence lapsed between the two.

"So… was that why you've been feeling so guilty? Because we turned him into a soldier?"

"No," Wolf whispered.

"What, then?"

Wolf shut his eyes. Snake could see his jaw working beneath his cheeks as the man ground his teeth together. Finally, he made a sudden twist to turn off the light, plunging them into complete darkness. Neither of them moved to get under the blankets so soon, however. Snake could hear Wolf's husky breathing.

When Wolf finally spoke, his voice was barely audible.

"_It felt like I was losing a son."_

0o0o0o

* * *

Sabina Pleasure was not coping.

And she was not coping for one reason only: there was nothing to cope with. Because Alex Rider was not dead.

She'd had her suspicions in the beginning, of course. And after sharing them with Wolf, her faith had been shaken. Wolf had made it all out to be so simple – she was just delusional with loss. He wasn't taking it well wither, after all.

But all of her uncertainties had been cleared when K-unit disappeared. She knew they were going after Alex. She _knew._

Which was why she spent the following two days comforting an inconsolable Jack. _She_ was not so easily convinced.

"He would have _told_ me," she insisted to Sabina after the young woman had offered the idea that perhaps Alex was not as dead as he'd been made out to be. Well, at least she hadn't gotten mad like _some_ people. "He would have found a way to _let me know."_

"He might not have been able to," Sabina countered. "If he's been captured–"

Jack wailed. "Oh, God – if he was captured – who _knows_ what they'd do to him _this _time_…"_

Sabina blinked. "This time?"

"Last time Alex was d-detained, I couldn't see him f-for weeks!" she told Sabina shrilly. Then she curled around the pillow she was currently clutching. "Oh, Sabina. I was going to leave, Sabina. How could I have even _thought_ of leaving him?"

_I did,_ Sabina thought to herself. _I left him for years. _She didn't voice these thoughts, however – just ran her hands soothingly through Jack's messy red hair. "But you _didn't_, Jack. It'll be okay."

"It will–" she hiccupped, "–it will _never_ be okay _again_, S-Sabina."

Sabina thought of Alex tied up, glaring fiercely at the enemy and spitting clever words every chance he got. A determinedly grim smile overtook her lips.

"You'll see. He'll be back."

Alex Rider _always_ found a way.

0o0o0o

* * *

At that time, Alex Rider was focusing all his energy on finding a way to _breath._

A hand was closed tightly around his throat, fingernails digging into flesh and drawing blood. He was thrashing against his bindings, his lungs slowly filling up with more and more fluid, until Alex's vision blotted out at the edges and his body began to shut down.

_It's happening,_ he thought in a frenzy, _I'm dead–_

He was released gasping and shuddering, his lungs straining against his ribcage as they struggled to take in more air than they had the capacity for. Glaring up at his assailant, he was met by a pair of dark, impassive eyes.

"I could have killed you," the man pointed out needlessly. He was about five-foot-eleven, with small eyes and a hulking nose. Bad skin and dirty teeth told Alex he was not one of the rich benefactors of his confinement. Therefore, Alex made no attempt to question or negotiate with him.

"You think you're so…. so great, with your … damned… bucket!" Alex snarled breathlessly. The aforementioned bucket was the same one being continually refilled with ice water, preventing his mind from the respite of sleep. Alex was familiar with the method of sleep deprivation – he did have one advantage, however.

Alex had suffered from insomnia numerously in the past. His mind would hold out for longer than most.

It occurred to him at that moment that he almost always had an advantage, even in his worst moments. "God, I'm awesome," he muttered, without realizing he'd voiced his thoughts out loud. This earned him a strange look – something he didn't really understand. For a guy being tortured, it wasn't _that_ weird of thing to do (talk to himself, that was).

"I could kill you right now," hulk-nose stated softly. Alex resisted the temptation to roll his eyes at the words.

"A _meteor_ could kill me right now," Alex retorted. "You're not so special."

Hulk-nose stared at him.

Alex sighed. "Do you even know who I am? I – I mean, do you even know who it is that you've been assigned to – to torture? Not that you're… not that you're not doing a good job, or anything…"

It was much easier this way, in Alex's opinion. The drugs had worn off at some point either a few hours or a few days ago – Alex hadn't had access to his own perception of time since he'd been brought to this room – and they had yet to place it back in his system. Secretly, he was _praying_ they would stick with the traditional methods: assassins he could handle. Self-important crime lords he could handle. But his own psyche turned against him? Alex felt nauseous with the recollection of his hallucinations.

However, if he wanted to keep the luxury of traditional torture, he'd have to do a more convincing job of being bothered by it. The sleeplessness made it difficult to remember his part all that well – he was _naturally_ sarcastic and witty, and it took active energy to repress it.

Hulk-nose's tiny eyes narrowed. "Alec Liger."

"Alec–_Alex_," Alex moaned in exasperation, his chin dropping. He felt so _low-budget. _"It's Alex… oh, forget it."

_Liger's actually pretty cool,_ he thought. _Isn't that what they call lion-tiger hybrids? Badass._

He gasped when he felt the frigid cold pierce him all over again. "I wasn't even f-f-f-falling asleep!" he hissed defensively, teeth chattering against the low temperature. It must have been getting colder – although at some points he felt downright _hot_ in this room.

It occurred to him that it was possible he was getting sick.

Hulk-nose left after that. Seconds or minutes or hours later and the door opened again behind him, drawing Alex's attention. He waited until the approaching footsteps appeared in his line of sight before slowly exhaling.

"Who is it this…"

Broken teeth were revealed as thin, chapped lips peeled back in a disturbing grin.

"… time," Alex finished in a hush. He knew that face. He knew it from _last time._

"Sunnova bitch," Alex whispered. "I should have known. _You_."

"Me. And you. Reunited at last, Rider."

He was among the ugliest men Alex had ever met in his life. And of course, they had met the last time he was in these circumstances. Blunt and Jones had told him that most of the people who'd held him hostage hadn't been captured – it made perfect sense now. The half-assed assassination attempts, the barely-known organization – Capricorn…

It was just Round Two. Capricorn… Capricorn probably didn't even exist. Alex found himself, of all things, smiling.

"Cute," he said humorlessly. "You came_ back _for me."

"Rider, Rider, Rider," the man drawled out slowly. He was a large man, with muscle tone hidden beneath layers of badly proportioned weight gain. His face was circular and widespread, eyes too far apart and mouth too long against his jaw. He looked like a nightmarish, over-exaggerated cartoon, or one of those sick people with their features ballooned.

"Flint," Alex greeted cordially. "I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little tied up at the moment."

"Always the joker," Flint spat. He was actually speaking in quite a civilized manner for himself at the time – that was just the way Flint spoke. He had the nasally, spewing voice of someone perpetually ill.

"You know me," Alex agreed bleakly. In truth, he sort of regretted making the joke. He hated Flint, and he knew Flint enjoyed his humor.

"How are you feeling, Rider?" he asked, taking a few steps closer so Alex had to either crane his neck to make eye contact or stare indefinitely at his protruding potbelly. Alex chose the eye contact.

"Awful. Just awful. You guys are the worst hosts ever."

"But aren't you comfortable?"

"My chair is squeaky," Alex complained, and rocked back and forth a bit to illustrate this point. The chair creaked with effort. He paused, examining the way Flint's fingers twitched and his eyes narrowed infinitesimally for just a split second. Slowly, he began rocking back and forth again, the chair's groaning becoming increasingly louder and faster. Flint waited, his body tense, until finally he lashed out, backhanding Alex. Alex was thrown to the ground still tied to his chair, and he stayed on his side, the water that had pooled at the base of his seat seeping into his clothes.

"Is that better?" Flint asked, his voice steely.

"Sorry," Alex huffed. "I didn't realize that irritated you so much. Communication is key, Flint."

A steel-toed boot planted itself in Alex's ribcage, temporarily knocking the breath (and in extension, wit) out of him. He tried to slow his breathing so as not to influence the bruising he knew would follow.

"Alex Rider, lying in a puddle on the floor. How fitting."

"How is this fitting?" Alex demanded, squirming. Unbeknownst to Flint, Alex had deliberately provoked him, because his new position placed his hands across each other. His fingers were already latched into the small knot at the base of his wrists, ensuring they would not lose their place when Flint heaved him back into the world of the vertical.

"You're with your own kind down there – floor scum."

Alex blew a strand of hair out of his mouth, accidentally breathing in a few drops of concrete moisture. He wrinkled his nose.

"Flint, I remember you being more fun than this."

"You're kidding – I remember you being more pathetic than this."

And then Flint was kicking him again, harder and harder in the sides and the calves and the chest, all the while avoiding his face so as not to aggravate MI6 into not taking him back. By the time the beating was over, Alex was gasping for breath and aching, his body trembling against the assault.

"Ouch," he whispered, his cheek pressed into the cool concrete. Flint then stepped on his tender arm, easing his weight onto the appendage and sending pain shooting through Alex's arm. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tightly against the feeling, until it eventually overwhelmed him and drew out a cry. As soon as Flint had eased off it again, he slammed his boot down, this time eliciting an unbridled scream.

"Know your place, Rider," Flint rasped, leaning down right over Alex's ear. Alex's chest heaved, and then he was being dragged upwards, his chair righted and the door closing behind him.

Minutes passed.

Alex's index finger twitched at the same time that a tiny, self-assured grin flickered onto his lips.

He hadn't lost his grip on the knot.

0o0o0o

* * *

At precisely 5:45 in the morning, Wolf awoke to the sound of his door slamming open. He immediately threw himself into action, rolling off the bed and landing in a crouch next to it, his hand already having attained a gun from underneath the bed frame. Footsteps pounded towards him, and he'd leaped up at the same time that Eagle's beaming face slid into his view.

It was still beaming, even with a semi-automatic pressed against the center of its forehead.

"Morning, Wolf!" Eagle greeted.

Wolf's hand dropped. "Fuck you," he growled.

"Ah, you never were a morning person."

"You are a _child._"

Fox drifted in a moment later, yawning loudly and jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "There's a breakfast bar," he announced.

"Is it open this early?" Snake asked, pushing the covers off. The beds had been heavenly, if only because he was used to sleeping on hard terrain or wooden platforms.

"They're setting up. We've already got coffee made in our room, though."

"Great. Go get it, please. Snake, put ours on?" Wolf was pulling out the most reputable clothes he'd brought – his funeral suit. He frowned when he realized how wrinkled it looked. So did Eagle and Snake.

"Wolf, don't you own an iron?"

"Yeah. But Cub usually… used to…"

The impending tension was diffused by Eagle's snort. "I didn't realize Cub's stay with you had turned him into a fifties housewife."

"No, he was already like that."

Fox also used his time fetching the coffee to put on his (significantly less crinkled) suit. When he entered the room, he was greeted with whistling and catcalls. His response consisted of a dead look.

Snake took the coffee pot out of his hand and poured all of them all each a mug. A short silence overtook the group as each one drained back the caffeinated beverage. Then Wolf began delivering out orders again. Eagle and Snake were to get the weaponry together – they weren't going for more than anything small and silenced, but it would most likely be enough for their day's plan. Wolf and Fox took the opportunity to discuss courses of action on how to approach Alfred Louis. After the details had been worked out (and by worked out, I mean tossed into the "we will improvise" bin along with _pretty much everything else_), the four men readied at the door.

Wolf met each one of their gazes as he always did before setting out on some kind of important excursion.

"I really don't feel like pep-talking you guys for a talk with an old man," he told them tiredly. "So just keep your shit together. I really hope that breakfast bar has pancakes."

The room locked itself behind them.

0o0o0o

* * *

Alfred Louis was five-nine and gray-haired at fifty-eight years old, as his file stated. He had eyes of the same hue, and two daughters living in London. He was divorced, and currently employed at St. Petersburg Hospital in Carlisle, Cumbria.

When he answered the door to the faces of Agents Sanders and Kobayashi, he did not look surprised. That made Wolf and Fox's job much, much easier.

"Come in, come in," he gestured, opening the door wide. Wolf watched with distaste as Louis's eyes lingered on his wrinkled suit. He self-consciously rubbed his chest, grumbling under his breath.

Louis's house was neatly kept and decorated oddly, with some items having a modern theme to them whilst sitting among antiques. Next to the TV sat a Hawaiian lamp and a photograph of Louis twenty years younger with an unextraordinary woman of the approximate same age. Wolf and Fox took seats at Louis's request.

"So, Agents Sanders, Koba…yashi," he finished hesitantly, eyeing Fox and his obvious Caucasian ethnicity. Fox blinked at him through bright blue eyes, a benign smile coloring his (clearly not Japanese) features. "What would you like to know?"

"Uh, Mr. Louis," Wolf began, clearing his throat uncomfortably. He was not used to an undercover setting – despite what his unit had said the day before at the airport, Wolf actually_ hadn't_ been trained to do much else other than throw his fists around. "Sorry – may I see your phone?"

Fox discretely elbowed Wolf at the abandonment of his tact, but Wolf just smiled uncertainly. Louis looked slightly taken aback.

"Ah – of course. There's a wall phone in the kitchen, if you'd like to…"

"No," Fox cut him off, going along with Wolf's direct methods, "your cell phone, please?"

"Oh," Louis said. "I don't have one."

"You don't?" Wolf said, raising his eyebrows.

"No. At least – not as of a few days ago. I'd left it in my car during a shift at the hospital, but my car was stolen a few days ago…"

"No shit?" Wolf grinned, drawing another half-astonished look from Louis for his unprofessionalism. Fox awkwardly laughed off the display, covertly pinching Wolf.

"Louis, have you since recollected your car?"

"It has yet to be found…" Alfred Louis said. "Where did you guys say you were from?"

"Cornwall," they both clarified. Fox drew forth their warrant before glancing over at Wolf.

"Sorry about him," he stage-whispered. "He's new."

Wolf's eyebrows knit together, and he shot Fox a glare.

"… Right. Anyway, it's like I said: I reported my car missing on March 28th–"

"… After a shift at St. Petersburg," Fox finished for him. "Mr. Louis, how long was your shift?"

"Eight hours," he replied, scratching the back of his head. "Is this about my car? You never specified when I spoke to you on the phone, Agent Sanders."

Wolf rolled his eyes. As if an _agent_ would be put on the case of a stolen car if that was all there was too it. Fox shook his head.

"No, Mr. Louis. One final question: when did your shift begin?"

"Well, around 5 A.M., but I can tell you when the car was stolen. From what I've heard, it's speculated that a patient took it – nobody knows who the patient is, however."

"Can't you just figure out which of the admitted patients isn't where they're supposed to be?" Wolf asked, annoyed at their negligence.

"It isn't that easy," Louis responded reproachfully. "Normally that might be the case, but there's where the hospital ran into trouble: all admitted patients were accounted for. Whoever took my car was never officially admitted into St. Petersburg."

Wolf and Fox exchanged looks. _Bingo_.

"Well," Wolf said, standing up and shaking Louis's hand. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Louis."

"No trouble at all, Agent Sanders, Agent Kobayashi."

0o0o0o

* * *

St. Petersburg hospital was situated on a hill far out of the way of anybody who might use it. As Wolf gazed through the windshield at the distant building, he couldn't resist a snort of laughter.

"Who the hell decided it'd be a good idea to plant this place in the middle of bumfuck nowhere?" he said, drawing a short laugh from Eagle riding shotgun.

"That's a good point. I mean isn't it just unnecessarily inconvenient?"

"Maybe they did it on purpose," Fox suggested conspiringly, "as a sort of 'fuck off' in advance. You know, like, 'yeah, I guess we'll help you… but you'll have to find us first!'."

"Doctors do not think like that," Snake objected.

"I don't know," Eagle disputed warily with a soft shudder. "I've met some _sadistic _doctors."

The car turned into a parking spot at the exact moment that Wolf cut in with a gruff, "We're here; get out."

St. Petersburg Hospital was small and probably some kind of specialist hospital, considering its odd placement.

The parking lot was mostly full and from their standpoint they could see right through the glass main doors and into the lobby, where the receptionist was currently taking a call. They wandered inside, Eagle giving a wary look at the broken potted plant on the right side of the entrance.

Wolf and Fox both pulled out their respective identification upon greeting the man behind the counter.

"We're here investigating the stolen car from a few days ago," Fox explained. He nodded.

"Ah, that's right – Dr. Louis's car, wasn't it? Speculation around an escaped patient stealing that, there was…"

"There _is_," Wolf corrected, his eyes narrowing slightly. The receptionist – skinny and no older than twenty-five – gave a feeble smile.

"R-right, right."

"As per the situation, we were wondering if there were any known witnesses of the patient's run amok?"

"Well," the receptionist rubbed his face absently. "Not exactly _known._ After the incident, there wasn't a single policeman in here investigating things. You two are the first I've seen on the matter."

Fox raised his eyebrows. "_Really._ Now that _is_ interesting."

The receptionist seemed slightly encouraged by Fox's piqued interest. "Yes, that's right. There isn't much information on the supposed patient since no witnesses have actually surfaced, but we think it has something to do with…"

The receptionist trailed off. Fox cleared his throat pointedly. "With what?" he hedged.

The receptionist swallowed hard. "Not what… _who_. St. Petersburg has been… occupied… for the past few days."

"What does _that_ mean?" Wolf demanded. The receptionist shook his head.

"I… to be honest, I don't really know. A few days ago we had a sudden surge in personnel. About six or seven doctors were all placed here at once. There was no formal introduction, and even now nobody knows much about them. They've all been sworn to secrecy. I think it's something to do with the Official Secrets Act."

"I'm not all that interested in what _you think_," Wolf told him, and the receptionist deflated slightly. "Did anything else happen?"

"Yes. Supposedly, someone was admitted here – however, there's no record… that's where the theory of the patient comes into question."

"_Theory _of the patient? Didn't anybody _see_ him?"

"No – yes – well, sort of. Some doctors report seeing a boy being wheeled in here a few days ago. It was late into the night, easily three or four in the morning – a young teenager, _soaked_ in blood. I think it was a gang w…" He glanced uneasily at Wolf, smiling nervously.

"Uh, anyway. Yes. So they told us he died on the operating table, but the next day one of the rooms in the I.C.U. was signed out and two men stood outside out it all day and all night, alternating from time to time but never leaving it unattended. Some of the doctors came up with the theory that they must have been keeping the boy in there – the one they'd told us had died."

"What about the doctors who actually operated on him? The boy who was said to have died?" Fox pressed.

"The next day they were all official employees of St. Petersburg," the receptionist replied. "They arrived moments before the boy did, and basically forced the other surgeons aside in order to operate on him."

"And how did that go over?"

"Not well," he replied. "Especially after those same surgeons who'd been denied the chance to save a teenager were told he'd bled out on the operating table."

"Could you give us a list of the new doctors?"

"Of course," the receptionist replied, turning to his computer and typing a few things into the computer. A moment later he was printing out the files for the doctors. Seven names spread neatly across three pieces of paper. Wolf's eyes roamed over them, committing them to memory. Finnegan, Warley, Channing, Moore, McKinnon, Chamberlin, Gallagher.

"They're – no longer here," the receptionist added hastily as Wolf and Fox began to turn around. Wolf paused, looking back.

"What?"

"They left," he said. "They left the day after Dr. Louis's car was stolen. All seven of them. The room is no longer occupied."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"It's true," he insisted. "We haven't heard a word from them since."

"And there's nobody else we can talk to?"

"Nobody that I can think of. The room was cleared out. They tried to tell us there was some top secret medication development going on – and a few _were_ messing about in the lab – but that guarded room was made for a patient, even if they denied the company of an eighth person. The whole thing was incredibly suspicious, but it's done now. All parties involved are gone."

"So there's nothing left here for us," Wolf murmured to himself as they walked back towards where Snake and Eagle were waiting.

"We didn't learn _nothing_, though," Fox reminded him, well accustomed to deciphering Wolf's mutterings. "We know a little more about what we're up against. Plus, we still have our second lead."

"That's true…"

They relayed what they had learned back to the remaining two members of K-unit, and after that all four were back on their way, the rented car moving swiftly in the direction of 802 Baker Street.

0o0o0o

* * *

"There's nobody home."

802 Baker Street was a quaint but charming flat, painted dark blue with a white trim and a burgundy door. The blinds were shut and the door firmly locked, with no light shining through any of the cracks.

"At least she's power efficient," Fox sighed. They had tried knocking before going into further inspection, but there was also a distinct empty space in the street outside her door. No car was parked near enough to be considered as hers.

"She's probably at that hospital, isn't she? What's her name again? I haven't heard her profile," Eagle said.

"Jeanette Styles. Twenty-eight years old, five-five, fair hair and blue eyes."

"Sounds like a babe."

"American."

"Wait – really. That's interesting. Does it say when she immigrated here?"

"Actually… actually, it doesn't. Her profile is significantly vaguer than Alfred Louis's. Born in Seattle, Washington. Currently works at Carlisle Memorial Hospital. There are some details on what she actually _does_ if you want to look at this, Snake."

Snake pulled the papers into his hands, inspecting the picture. "You were right, Eagle. Check out the picture."

Even unsmiling and with minimal make-up, you could tell the woman was quite beautiful. That, and…

"Huge rack!"

"Dibs."

"Snake, no. She's a suspect!"

"Hey, you've got your own American!"

"You guys," Wolf jumped in, "we still have to get gas, so can we at least save the bickering for while we're driving?"

"They say you aren't supposed to fight in the car though, Wolf…"

"Eagle, that's the _bedroom."_

"_Get going!_"

0o0o0o

* * *

The receptionist at Carlisle Memorial was in her early sixties, with a head of curly white hair and pair of kindly brown eyes. A pair of glasses was also perched on the end of her nose, attached around her neck with a pink string of beads. She smiled warmly when they approached.

"Hello," Fox greeted her amicably. "My name is _Agent Kobayashi_–" he _did_, in fact, ignore the raising of her feathery eyebrows, "–and this is my partner, Agent Sanders. We're looking for a doctor who works here – a Dr. Styles?"

"Which one?" she inquired brightly.

"The hot one," Fox explained.

"Jeanette Styles," Wolf corrected irritably.

"She's not in today," the receptionist, a Lillian Bagley if her nametag was correct, replied. "She called in sick this morning. Are you here to see one of her patients?"

Wolf and Fox both simultaneously frowned. If she'd been sick, her car would have been in the driveway. It was unlikely that a doctor would choose to commute – oftentimes they were on-call and needed at their place of work as quickly as possible. So why wasn't she at home, if she had called in sick?

"No," Fox responded. "Mrs. Bagley, if I may – how long has Dr. Styles been working here?"

"Is she in some sort of trouble?" Mrs. Bagley asked, bringing a frail hand up to her thin lips. Fox shook his head.

"No, ma'am. Is she a recent addition to the hospital?"

"Well, yes. She got here about three weeks ago. Very nice young woman, very nice indeed – and just so young and pretty, too. Much nicer than that other lot she concerns herself with."

"And that would be…?" Wolf pressed.

"You don't know, then? Gracious, I thought that might be the reason such official-looking men were paying a visit to Carlisle Memorial. A couple days ago we had four doctors join us very suddenly. Little detail has been given to us senior hospital staff on the matter, but it seems they're under some sort of pact of secrecy – I do hope it's nothing dangerous, but what with that patient and all…"

Fox and Wolf momentarily locked gazes, both thinking the same thing: _this is beginning to sound very, very familiar._

"The patient, ma'am – could you please tell us about him?"

"Well, certainly. I received enough complaints about him the other day to write an article on him! Apparently the young boy was causing trouble in the halls – running and shouting and shoving other patients – disgraceful! He was being pursued by some of the men who came in here with the doctors – intimidating folk. Protection, they said, but wouldn't explain much further. We – the other hospital gossips and I, I mean… we don't even think he was a real patient here, the boy. There isn't any record of his admission or release in our system."

"But you think he had something to do with the new doctors and bodyguards stationed here?"

"Undoubtedly. Nobody saw him being brought in – presumably he was being treated by the new doctors, and that's why they were being so hush-hush, see. Some of us were worried after those guards appeared in front of his room – of course we didn't know there was anybody in it or what was going on in there until he escaped…"

"And how does Jeanette Styles fit into all of this?"

"Well," Mrs. Bagley began, pursing her lips. "Everything pretty much began a few nights ago. The four doctors showed up in the building the same time the room became occupied and the guards posted themselves outside its door. None of the other doctors were permitted to associate with the four new ones or enter the room – except Dr. Styles, who'd only been here for three weeks."

"Why?"

"Ah… we don't know. She wouldn't tell us that either. But we did notice one thing. The night that everybody arrived, Dr. Styles didn't seem caught off guard at all. In fact, it seemed as though she'd been preparing for it."

"So where is he now? The patient, the one they were guarding?"

"Nobody knows. Not here," she clarified. "His room was cleared out two days ago. As soon as the first complaint was filed, he was nowhere to be found. And the other four doctors are gone as well."

"And Styles?"

"She was in yesterday. Everybody else had gone, but she was here… granted, she didn't look to be in the best shape, pale-faced and exhausted, the poor thing, but I was happy to see she hadn't left with the rest of that strange lot. Can't say I'm surprised she didn't show up this morning..."

"You talked to _her_ specifically on the phone this morning, correct? You heard her voice?"

"Yes…" Mrs. Bagley replied suspiciously. "Why do you–"

"Could you give us a little more insight into the complaints? How did they describe the patient?" Fox interrupted.

The receptionist blinked. "Oh – fair haired teenage boy… somewhat tall… brown eyes – or they might have been blue, I can't quite recall… and described a few times as rather _good-looking–_"

"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Bagley," Wolf cut him off, turning around and locking eyes with Eagle and Snake across the room. They both lowered their chins resolutely. It was Alex alright. He'd been here. It wasn't much, but it was something – the first something they'd managed to snatch up since Alex had disappeared into the emergency room forever ago. Suddenly, all four of them were bursting with hope.

They took off down the first hallway, with K-unit all turning their eyes onto Wolf for further direction. Wolf paused at the end of the hall, looking around at all the doors before spotting an elevator and moving towards it. It was not the elevator he was particularly interested in, however, but the legend next to it. A floor plan had been pasted to the wall for the visitor's convenience.

The first floor was fairly basic – it housed the cafeteria, physiotherapy sector, emergency room, admissions area, diagnostic imaging and several waiting rooms. The second floor was for surgery and chronic care, with a laboratory near the north wall. After noting that the fourth floor was for maternity and psychiatrics, they decided to start looking on the third floor – beginning with Eagle firmly planting his pointing finger on the up button.

The third floor certainly seemed promising – there was the I.C.U., the E.C.G., hostel, volunteer coordination and a large amount of hospital rooms. Perhaps if they were lucky, they'd run into witnesses of Alex's rampage.

When the elevator doors opened up to the third floor, K-unit was greeted with the image of a white-coated doctor smacking a darkly-clad man upside the head.

"I am placing a ban on your kind ever returning to this hospital, do you understand me?"

"I don't believe you have the jurisdiction to do that, doctor," the man in the black coat replied coolly, seemingly unruffled by the act of violence on his partners behalf.

"We'll see about that," the older doctor sputtered. "This is not the secret service's playground!"

"Secret service?" The other man mockingly raised an eyebrow.

"Whoever you people are, I am _sick of your faces!_ If I ever see another one of you in my hospital again–"

"Dr. Rooks!" a nurse scurried around the corner, scandalized. He briefly glanced over at the middle-aged woman before returning his focus to the man he'd slapped.

"I mean it," he warned. "I can and will involve the _local_ police in this."

"It wouldn't make a difference."

"We. Will. See. About. That."

The doctor glared fiercely at him, chest heaving and wrinkled fists shaking with anger. The man in the coat merely smirked before nodding and turning away. As soon as he'd changed directions, however, he caught sight of K-unit, and a telltale emotion flashed through his eyes.

Fear.

K-unit didn't even hesitate.

The man took off down the opposite hall, followed closely by Wolf and Eagle. Fox and Snake hung back, knowing five men were too many to be throwing themselves down a cramped hospital hallway if they didn't want to be kicked out so soon.

Wolf's hand stretched out, just missing the fabric of the dark man's coat when he rounded a corner.

"Stop running!" Wolf yelled, startling an elderly woman into withdrawing back into the room she'd just emerged from. He was ignored, instead dragged around the next corner and straight past the I.C.U. The end of the hallway came into view, and for a second Eagle and Wolf thought they had him cornered – until they realized he wasn't slowing down.

The runner tore an oxygen tank off the side of a spare hospital bed, throwing it under his arm and picking up speed. "Who the _hell _are you?" Eagle roared, moving to pull his gun from his holster. The man half-turned and grabbed at an empty gurney, flipping it sideways and right into K-unit's path: Eagle managed to leap over it, while Wolf fell behind by about two seconds.

Unfortunately, that was all the man needed. As soon as he came within five feet of the large window at the end of the hallway, the oxygen tank was back in his hands and sailing through the air, shattering the tempered glass and leaving a wide gap for the man to dive through. Eagle followed him onto the roof, cutting his arm on the side of the window and his cheek on a piece of glass during the rolling landing. Without missing a beat, he was back on the runner's trail, his speed still not faltering. Wolf was right behind him, tearing the silenced automatic from the waistband of his suit.

"Freeze or I'll shoot!" Wolf shouted, skidding to a halt to aim, but the runner had just gotten to the edge and didn't stop. There wasn't an ounce of indecision in the man's movements before he launched himself off the roof the three-story building. Wolf surged forward, reaching the edge seconds after Eagle halted and flailed to steady the man. From there, they were both able to see the stranger already on the ground throw himself into his car and screech backwards, taking off down the road. Both of them examined the side of the building, noticing the metal hook he'd placed on a second story windowsill. A rope dangled down and fluttered desolately in the wind.

"Shit," Wolf growled, massaging his jaw. "I can't believe he got away."

"We're losing our touch," Eagle said mournfully.

"He had better toys than us," Wolf pointed out, gesturing at the grapple hook. Eagle shrugged.

"If we'd been faster…"

"Or if I'd…" Wolf trailed off. He'd had one clear shot at the man, and he hadn't taken it. Before Alex had reentered his life, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that he would have taken the shot. But Wolf's faith in firearms had been badly shaken, and their instantaneous partnership was heavily burdened with distrust. His grip tightened around the handle, flicking the safety back on and placing it under his waistband once more. Eagle let out a sigh.

"It doesn't matter," he muttered. "We're not back to square one yet. That doctor who'd been talking to him sure seemed opinionated on the matter of his presence."

Wolf grunted. "That's for sure."

The two lingered for a moment, directionless.

"… Sooo… do we go back in through the broken window, or…?"

0o0o0o

* * *

Eagle had been taken aside and fussed over for a good twenty minutes, his arm wrapped in an unnecessary amount of gauze (in his uneducated opinion) and a clean bandage placed neatly across his cheek. Wolf and Fox had been required to flash their identification once again, forced to do a little damage control after the hospital moaned at the second high-speed chase through its corridors in one week.

The doctor who'd been yelling at the man in black – Dr. Rooks – was now directing his fiery fury at K-unit, waving his arms in the air and all around defying his old age with the way his rage manifested. Eagle would testify that he even saw the man _hop_, at one point. Wolf rose to the challenge, his own temper flaring up, so when Eagle tugged at his arm to pull him away from the scene, he trusted his comrade's wisdom and withdrew, leaving the rest to Agent "Kobayashi" Fox and Snake, the ever-collected and personable medic.

As soon as Dr. Rooks had somewhat calmed down, the questions began.

"You're not telling me that that man wasn't who he said he was?" the doctor demanded sarcastically. "Gee, I wouldn't have guessed."

"I take you suspected foul play earlier on?" Fox inquired, resisting the urge to smile at the old man's liveliness. Dr. Rooks huffed.

"Of course. They claimed they were too high up in the military intelligence ladder to give anybody here any details, apparently – knew some doctors that had been working here a while, and got themselves treated to some special treatment. It was all a load of horse crap from the start. Nobody who asked found out anything – there were just those who _knew_ and couldn't tell and those who didn't and never would. But they had all the right papers and always had some kind of official reason…"

"You said there was special treatment involved – what kind of special treatment?" Snake asked.

"A few of their doctors were brought in, just like that," Dr. Rooks replied. "All the paperwork was done before anyone could so much as raise a finger."

"Names?" Fox had forgotten to ask the receptionist.

"There was a… McKinnon, I believe. And of course _Dr. Gallagher_… the other two – Finnegan and Warley, it was."

The other three were gone, but all four of those names had been mentioned at St. Petersburg, as well.

"We were told that the business with those four doctors was resolved a few days ago."

"For the most part," Dr. Rooks sniffed. "That boy they were keeping here is gone. They continue to dawdle about in our laboratory, however – though not anymore, that's for sure. I don't care who you people are, I'm filing an official _police_ report about that window! Somebody could have been killed – this is a _hospital!"_

"Dr. Rooks, I understand completely. We strongly encourage you to contact the police should they return and take extra precautions on guarding your resources. Thank you for your time; we'll see ourselves out."

As they walked back in the direction of the elevator, Eagle rejoined them, releasing a quiet groan.

"Mother of God, _where is Alex?_ This is like some kind of wild goose chase! What the hell _happened_ to him?"

Just then, Eagle felt a small, light tug on the bottom of his trousers. He glanced down, startled, and was met with the bottomless gaze of a seven-year-old boy.

"Hi," he said shyly, peeking up from underneath long lashes. His feet shifted a little, and he was fidgeting with the hem of his hospital shirt.

"Uh… hi," Eagle greeted in return, slightly overwhelmed, "hi there, little buddy. Need something?"

"I heard you say Alex," he mumbled. "I was listening to you and Dr. Rooks. Sorry."

"That's okay," Eagle amended, glancing back at the other members of K-unit. Fox gestured for Wolf to take a couple steps back, because even though it wasn't _his_ fault he had the same effect on most small children as a wild grizzly bear did, looming over their newest lead was not going to help their case. "Did you know Alex?"

"O'course," the boy emphasized, grinning proudly. "He's my hero. He saved my life!"

0o0o0o

* * *

_Holy massive chapter Batman!_ I… am not even sure what to say about this. I'm somewhat embarrassed. This was not supposed to fatten itself into ten thousand words. Really, I feel like I should be splitting this in half, but I had a lot to cover and… jeezuz. It just would've shaped up to be a bland two chapters if I had. This will not become a regular thing, anyway – hopefully I'll get some extra reviews for the double word count, because editing this was definitely _not_ fun.

Trivia: U is the 21st letter of the alphabet and K is the 11th, hence their room number: 211. That can be taken as UK (where they live) or KU (for K-unit). Reeeeally pointless detail that I overcomplicated for you folks cause I like mindless things like that ;) And another goodie in there is that Dr. Rooks was named for the character in Prototype 2 you have to kill earlier on in the game. I spent Friday night with my cousin and both our boyfriends, and the tradeoff was that we'd watch them play Prototype 2 if they watched _We Bought a Zoo_ with us. Worth it. Also in the realm of my personal life (for anybody who vaguely cares)… my mom went away for a week for the first time in two years. And it may or may not have been one of the best weeks of my short life.

So… I would not exactly classify Wolf and Alex's relationship as father/son in this story. But there is no real classification for it. They're also comrades – soldier and superior – as well as friends, with some brotherly aspects. Make what you'd like of it – one of my favorite parts of writing their dynamic is the ambiguity of it.

And just a question for the readers/reviewers: what would you like to see happen/read about in the next few chapters? What would _you _personally enjoy reading? Should I tip the scale of humour/angst at all? If I receive a little directive I can try and include some of the ideas for you guys. Tell me what you waaant!

Also, I'd love to breach 600 reviews with this chapter! In fact, I'll update as soon as I do! How's that?

**To whom it may concern: **I went back and cleaned up chapter one. Hoping to get through all of the earlier chapters (probably up to around chapter sixteen), just in case anybody feels like metaphorically running their fingers through fresh, remastered chapter :P

**Next chapter: **I'll leave you guys guessing ;)


	24. Negative Space

_"Uh… hi," Eagle greeted in return, slightly overwhelmed, "hi there, little buddy. Need something?"_

_"I heard you say Alex," he mumbled. "I was listening to you and Dr. Rooks. Sorry."_

_"That's okay," Eagle amended, glancing back at the other members of K-unit. Fox gestured for Wolf to take a couple steps back, because even though it wasn't __his__ fault he had the same effect on most small children as a wild grizzly bear did, looming over their newest lead was not going to help their case. "Did you know Alex?"_

_"O'course," the boy emphasized, grinning proudly. "He's my hero. He saved my life!"_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 24

**Negative Space**

Wolf immediately stiffened. Eagle's lips parted as he stared at the boy, taken aback.

"He… saved your life? When?"

"Day before yesterday," Liam explained. "Are you looking for him too?"

A nurse moved forward in order to sweep Liam out of their presence. Fox tried to stop her, but she explained that it was time for Liam's daily physical and that if they wanted to continue talking to him they'd just have to follow her.

So the four SAS soldiers found themselves following the whims of a seven-year-old boy into the bright sterility of a hospital check up room. As the nurse poured over Liam's body, checking the progress of healing on bruises, scratches, and swelling, Liam continued his story.

"I've been searching the hospital all over," Liam explained. "Everyday I've gone looking for him. Yesterday I finished searching the fourth floor. He wasn't there but there were a lot of babies."

The fourth floor _was_ the maternity ward, after all. "Right," Eagle said. "Could you tell us more about when you actually _spoke _to Alex? How did you two meet?"

"He just barged right into my room," Liam told them, swinging his feet back and forth under the examination table. The nurse, who'd been trying to get a read on the nerve reactions of his knee, was treated to a foot in the bun, messing up her hair. She scowled.

"I was staring at him because I thought, he's awful young to be my new doctor, the other doctors are real old, but why else would he be here? Except he was on the phone and it looked like he was searching for something – he wasn't looking at me."

_On the phone._ When Wolf had spoken to Alex on the phone two days prior, that had been when…

"And as soon as he spotted me he froze. Then I heard him say, 'it's not over'. And he hung up. I remember that 'cause he was really cool when he did that."

So now they had somewhere to place Alex during the phone call made to Wolf. Liam carried on, shooting a charming smile at the nurse who was steadily growing more and more impatient with the restless little boy.

"Sit still," she ordered.

"He was messing around with the sharp stuff when we started talking."

"Sharp stuff?"

Liam's eyes drifted over to the opposite table, where a small assortment of syringes and other pointed medical utensils sat untouched. K-unit nodded their understanding.

"So I was a'sposed to get a new doctor that day. One that would talk to me about my parents."

The darkening of the boy's expression was telltale enough for Snake and Fox, but Eagle and Wolf remained ignorant.

"Talk… about your parents? What for?"

"Sir," the nurse interrupted, sending him a severe look, but Liam merely glanced in her direction and patted her on her head for her efforts. Then he locked eyes with Wolf.

"My parents put me in the hospital."

Wolf's mouth went dry and he gazed across at the large blue eyes of the small boy. There was a certain daring there, an odd bravery in the face of something crushing that he seemed to want everybody to see. It was just short of astounding.

"Oh," Wolf croaked, still not looking away from the intense stare. Even the other three soldiers were shuffling their feet now. The nurse sighed.

"Liam," she warned. The boy shook her off.

"I'm okay, Nurse Ratched."

The nurse pinched his arm, resulting in him jerking the appendage away and grinning obnoxiously. "Stop calling me that! It's Nurse Lovegood!"

"Coulda fooled me," the boy muttered mischievously, and the nurse stood up with a final huff, announcing loudly,

"I have to go retrieve some medication from the prescription desk. Don't let him leave here until I come back!"

"Anyway," Liam pressed on. "I asked Alex what he was doing in my room, since he wasn't my new doctor. And he showed me he was hurt. His arm was all wrapped up and his stomach was bleeding."

"Liam," Wolf repeated softly, just now learning the boy's name. Liam looked back over at Wolf curiously, all good-humor gone from his face as Wolf struggled to engage the boy. After a moment of silence, Wolf managed to blurt out,

"I'm Luke."

Liam stared at him. So did Nurse Lovegood. Then the boy smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Luke."

Fox cleared his throat. "I'm Ben."

"I'm Oliver," Eagle joined in.

"Jacob," Snake finished.

"Nice to meet you!" Liam exclaimed, looking slightly overjoyed at the introductions. "We are friends, then?"

"Of course," Eagle affirmed cheerfully. Nurse Lovegood turned around, placing a hand over her mouth to cover the smile that overtook it. Right after she left, Wolf sat down in the chair next to the door and prompted Liam to continue.

"What happened next?"

Liam seemed to enjoy occupying the group's attention so wholly, and eagerly delved back into his story. "He was… so _nice_ _to me_. He asked me some questions about my parents and stuff, and then he said that there will be people that will come into my life and become just as important them. And maybe I won't think I deserve it at the time, but it'll change everything. And it won't hurt at all."

The four men were slightly taken aback by this. No wonder the boy had become so attached to Alex after meeting him for ten minutes. He'd practically rerouted the kid's life. Without admitting it, the group felt a simultaneous boost of respect for their youngest team mate. In the middle of a hastily thrown together escape plan and an active hospital chase, Alex stopped to help a little boy.

Fox uttered a quiet chuckle. "That's our Cub. Ever the prospective philosopher."

Liam's eyes seemed to glitter as his small hands balled into fists at his sides. He brought them up to his face, beaming at Fox and catching the man off guard with his concentration of excitement.

"Does Alex live with you guys? Is he cool? Does he live here? Does he have lots of friends? Does his spy job put him in lots of danger? Is he–"

"Whoa, wait," Wolf cut him off, handing abruptly to look down at the small boy. Liam gazed up at him, his head cranked back so as to meet the eyes of the towering man. "He told you about that?"

"Yeah," Liam blinked. "He said he was shot trying to rescue his friends. Was it you guys?"

Wolf rubbed his jaw anxiously. He decided it wasn't too dangerous to trust this seven year old with Alex's secret. Especially since seven year olds make things up all the time. "No," Wolf admitted. "It was his girlfriend."

"He has a _girlfriend?"_ Liam went bug-eyed. Eagle seemed to find the whole picture hilarious and broke out into snickers in the corner. "Have they _kissed?"_

"Uh," Wolf hedged, coughing into his fist. Fox stepped in right then with a bright grin, saving Wolf's awkward ass once again.

"What happened to Alex after that, Liam?"

Liam's face darkened. He fumbled with the paper covering of the examination table, his beating legs stilling light of the topic's turn. Fox's brow furrowed at the sudden change just as Liam opened his mouth to begin speaking again.

"These two big angry guys came in, and… Alex tripped."

"He… tripped?"

"On some chords."

Eagle, who'd just managed to control his chortling, choked and burst out laughing again. Liam shot him a dirty look.

"It's not funny!" the boy shouted, looking genuinely upset. "It's not funny at all! They attacked him, they beat him up!"

Eagle sobered immediately. "Sorry," he nodded politely to Liam, who rubbed his nose before nodding back.

"I kept yelling for them to stop but they wouldn't so I–I jumped on one guy's back and I… I bit him."

Eagle and Fox both smiled. Snake and Wolf were gaping. "You did _what?"_ Wolf said in bewilderment. All four men had the same thought simultaneously: _Oh God, he's like a tiny __**Alex**__._

"Things kinda felt like they sped up after that. I fell and the other guy let go of Alex and just when I thought I was about to really get it, Alex jumped between us and shielded me. I was so scared. I was shaking real hard. I got a bruise."

"I'm sure," Snake said sympathetically, the medic in him automatically searching his small frame for further injuries. Eagle bit his thumb at the retelling. That certainly sounded like Alex.

"But Alex started coughing and – and he was coughing up _blood _and I couldn't do anything after that. He told them to stop, that he'd go with them if they didn't involve me anywhere. I begged him not to go. He just said to remember what he told me and that he'd escape again. They took him away after that, and a few minutes later a bunch of nurses flooded into my room. None of them knew who Alex was."

"Liam… that's incredible. You took on a guy _five times your size?"_

"I just… didn't know what else to do," Liam confessed, looking troubled. "I've been looking for Alex all over since, but I can't find him anywhere! I don't think he's in the hospital anymore…"

"It's okay," Fox said to the boy, placing a hand on his head and pushing his hair back. Liam didn't protest the gesture, even leaned into it a little. Fox's frown softened. "I don't think so either, Liam."

"You guys are gonna find him, right? You're looking for him and you'll find him?"

The men exchanged glances, but soon all eyes were on Wolf. It was nobody's promise to make but his own.

Wolf closed his eyes and sighed. He'd already made so many impossible promises – what was one more? So he crossed his arms over his chest and gave a short nod.

"We'll find him. _I promise."_

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex had his dark eyes fixed to the ground. Heavily lidded and rimmed with red and purple, he looked every part the sleepless prisoner that he was. After escaping from his ropes, he'd since been bound with heavy chains that wrapped around his shoulders and down to his waist. Had he not been so exhausted, he might have made a few jokes about the bindings. They would have been viewed as overdramatic and excessive on any other prisoner other than him, no doubt.

The door opened and closed behind him, and after a few seconds Alex was aware of Flint's presence in front of him. He did not feel like working up the energy to look the man in the eyes.

A rough hand seized his chin and craned it up, so that Alex was gazing straight into twin pools of black. Flint sneered.

"Tired already? This is playing out just like last time."

"Not really," Alex responded, his voice much softer than before. When you were running on the barest of energy stores, you became aware of just how much energy it required to perform the most basic functions, even down to the volume of your voice. He was even breathing slower. Everything about him had slowed down to preserve energy.

"Well, I guess you're right. There is something different this time, isn't there…"

Alex's eyes widened as Flint produced a small vial of clear liquid. He shook his head.

"Not necessary. Flint, no."

"Open up, Rider."

"Stop. Stop."

"Why should I?"

"Why are you even doing this?"

"Oh, I don't know," Flint smiled viciously. "Because it's fun, I suppose?"

Dimly, Alex's mind wandered around the concept of Flint. He was not an unfamiliar specimen – a sadist – but Alex couldn't understand the man's other motivations: clinging to Alex, following the operation of his capture and torture even after years without the pot of gold at the end of the tunnel that many of his captors had their eyes on. Was it that much fun to see _him specifically_ suffer?

"Why me?" he found himself asking out loud, his voice as muted as ever. Flint's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"Why _me? _Why are you so interested in me?"

It was strange to watch anger flicker so suddenly into Flint's features. "Do you think you're special, Rider? Do you think you're something unique?"

He took a step back, fixing his gaze on the chains wrapped so tightly around Alex they would no doubt result in link-shaped bruises along his arms – something not-exhausted Alex would have been able to appreciate as potentially cool. Instead, Alex vacantly focused on the rattled form of Flint before him, whose fingers had tightened around the vial of tasteless drug.

"You have had it so lucky. So damn lucky. Your life. Your spy games… and then all the backchat, the irritating comments – you think you're some kind of comedian, don't you?"

"You hate me… because of my sense of humor?"

Flint laughed loudly, suddenly, and the sound was poisonous. "Please, Rider. I don't _hate_ you. I _like_ you."

"If that's the case, I hope to God you don't like your own mother…"

"And," Flint continued flippantly as though he hadn't spoken, "I want to _break_ you."

Power complex, Alex immediately concluded. Flint was a sadist with a power complex and obsessive tendencies. That made sense, explained why Flint had become so fixated with him: he'd pegged Alex as _strong,_ and wanted to crush that strength so as to assure his own power in the ability to do so.

"Oh," Alex whispered as verbal comprehension. Flint's grin was enormous, supplying Alex with an eyeful of charmingly yellowed, broken teeth. Alex's captors were not generally models, but he had to admit Flint was especially ugly.

"And I will. And so will this. Because you _are_ special, Rider, and you _are_ strong. _I'm just stronger._"

He stepped forward and grabbed Alex's jaw in his left hand, shoving a dirty thumb between his teeth to keep Alex's mouth open. Then, heedless of Alex's alarmed noises and jerking, he lifted the vial to Alex's lips and flipped it, sending the drug down Alex's throat and straight into his system. When it was empty, he pulled it back and threw it to the ground, not even glancing down to see the object shatter on the concrete floor. Alex was glaring at him, panting from the exertion of his own panic.

Such a powerful fury filled Alex's expression that something inside Flint reared up in instinctive fear. He ignored it and triumphantly raised his arms, beaming more gleefully than ever.

"You should feel that in about fifteen minutes," Flint promised, laughing as his voice faded behind Alex, "but of course, all time here is… relative…"

The door shut, and it wasn't a minute later that the voices started.

He sat tensely in his chair, taking note of the fact that the drug had diminished his exhaustion – or his awareness of it, at least. Flint was right – time spent in that room _was_ relative – so as long as Alex wanted time to go by slowly, it raced ahead as though placed on fast-forward.

"Alex…"

Alex felt a prickling on the back of his neck. He snapped his neck to the side in paranoia, trying to see behind him, but as that second he felt a brush of cold air on the surface of his feet, instantly drawing his gaze down.

Sabina lay sprawled out on the floor, her arms cast aside and her hair spread outwards in a dark halo. She was smiling up at him, her blue eyes dark with malevolence. Alex stared down at her shock, wondering what she was doing in there with him until the tiny part of his mind still coherent reminded him he was hallucinating.

Alex wanted to rub his eyes, and he closed them as the sensation washed over his eyelids, but he knew he was still chained to the chair.

"Sabina," he breathed. "Why am I hallucinating about you?"

"Hallucinating?" she repeated, moving her hands so they became entangled with her hair. She looked ethereal. It felt like years since he'd last seen her, last gripped her shoulders in his fingers and pulled her forward against his chest. Now there she was laid out in front of him and she wasn't even real. He felt cheated.

"You're not real," he accused, looking at her with angry, distrustful eyes.

"Is that what you think? That none of this is real?"

The floor beneath him briefly liquefied, creating ripples from beneath his chair and Sabina's prone form. Alex's breath caught in his throat and just as quickly as it happened, it stopped. His fingertips (locked tight against his sides beneath chains as they were) curled into the fabric of his pants as he fought a brief bought of motion sickness.

He waited a minute before answering her. "Yes."

"Alex?"

Alex's gaze drifted to where Sabina was now casually standing, picking at her nails. She was wearing a white dress. When she looked over at him, her eyes were an eerie shade of yellow.

"What are you_ saying yes to?_"

Her voice distorted, deepening into an inhuman pitch, and Alex felt that now-familiar panic began to bubble at the bottom of his stomach. He instinctively pressed out against binds, his entire body tense with nervousness. Sabina's eyes had shifted into red and Alex _couldn't_ remember what he was saying yes to.

"You're not Sabina," he whispered, shutting his eyes tightly, but when he did that images ravaged his mind, of lightning and blood and K-unit and burning flesh and Jack falling off the edge of a skyscraper. With a gasp, his eyes flew open again, and he was faced with the Nightmare-Sabina once again – only now he was in a basement, and Sabina's face was twisted with something demonic. He was still chained, trapped, and he couldn't remember how he'd ended up in this basement, either.

The Nightmare-Sabina advanced, with Alex now seizing against his chains, his breath coming in quick gasps as he regarded the monster with horror.

"You're a monster. _You're not Sabina!"_ he howled, struggling desperately. His insistent, radical movements were burying the metal further into his skin and no doubt tearing flesh where it became ensnared in the links, but he couldn't feel the pain. She reached out and pressed a cold finger to his cheek in an icy caress, while Alex craned his neck to try and avoid the touch.

"We're all monsters," she crooned. "You and I. Every last one of us."

0o0o0o

* * *

"The drug has been an enormous success."

Two men and two women were watching Alex's breakdown on a small screen, observing his rough, jerky movements and changes in expression. They couldn't see what he was reacting to, but judging by his shaking and the cold sheen of sweat that had settled over his skin, it was no picnic.

"What do we know about the side-effects?" one of the women asked reproachfully. She seemed uncomfortable, as though torture was not her usual pastime – an uncommon trait in those parts.

"Not a huge amount, obviously," one of the men replied, his voice oozing condescension. "His temperature has been fluctuating. The drug does administer a fever – I believe that's where the hallucinations come from – but it lasts beyond the drug's effects. His exhaustion seems to have been negated as well."

"No nausea," the other woman, dark-haired and horse-like, replied. "We expected nausea."

"And what of the bullet wound?"

"We don't know. It doesn't really matter. It's nothing irreparable, I'm sure."

"Is it time to contact MI6, then?"

"Contact?" the second man, who'd had yet to speak, broke in. "It's time to shoot the first video."

0o0o0o

* * *

The brightly-lit scene blurred as the camera was adjusted on the tripod. After a moment or two, a voice began speaking, and the image of a person sharpened into focus. A young man was secured to a chair in what seemed like an unnecessary heap of heavy chains, his head bowed so all the viewer could really see was a mess of dirty, darkened fair hair.

"Rise and shine, Alex Rider."

The bound blonde made no move to face the camera.

"Jesus Christ," Mrs. Jones breathed, a hand moving up to cover her mouth as she watched the scene in apprehension. It was difficult to tell the extent of his injuries from the way he was perched in front of the camera, but she knew it couldn't be good. He'd been there for days now, and if he wasn't spitting wit in the face of his attackers, something was likely very wrong.

"Aaaalex."

He suddenly lifted his head, his eyes blearily locking with the camera. He flashed a brief smile, showcasing his split lip and the small trails of blood leading down from the corners of his lips.

"Hi Mr. Blunt, Mrs. Jones," he greeted the camera cordially. "I hope you two are having a relaxing weekend."

"It's Tuesday," Flint barked, annoyed that he was being ignored. Alex's eyes trailed over to meet Flint's own beady ones, thoughtful in the midst of his own impending torture.

"Oh. I see…" Alex responded pensively. "Good to know."

Flint did not reply. Instead, he stepped in front of the camera, leaning in so his face was so close it consumed the entire screen. "See your precious Alex Rider now? He's not going anywhere…"

"Hey," Alex defended feebly. "I can leave anytime I like, thank you… very much."

Flint moved aside, and the camera finally caught Alex's pained face. He tried to shift a little, but it was obvious that the chains not only limited his slightest movements, they also made them painful. Seemingly irritated by the teen's backtalk, Flint moved forward to smack Alex in the face, snapping his head sideways. Alex slowly exhaled, the blood on his lips more pronounced than ever against his pale skin.

His brown eyes locked on Flint's and flashed dangerously. Flint did not allow himself to feel intimidated, even if it was his first instinct to withdraw from the anger in that gaze.

"It's been a few days, Rider. Do you know that? How's your sense of time doing?"

"Not very well," Alex admitted in a croak. "Neither is my _bullet wound, _despite your half-assed attempts to fix it."

The camera was adjusted on the tripod so that it could perform a close-up on Alex's relatively unharmed face. He looked over at it again, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe you're filming. That's so dramatic… Scorpia would have never attempted something so flashy."

_Smack!_

The second blow was much harder than the first, and Alex was sure that this one would bruise as he breathed shallowly through his stinging mouth. His whole face was aching from that hit. Flint sure knew how to pack a punch, that was for sure.

"I don't think I want to listen to your backtalk anymore, Rider. I think I'd rather listen to your screams."

"You don't say. I never would have taken _you_ for a sadist, Flint."

"Don't get cute…"

"You gonna tell them where I am, at least, so they can come and pick me up?"

"Please. And it's not as though_ you_ know, so there's nothing to worry about, is there?"

"Oh, but I know exactly where I am!" Alex flashed a bloody grin. "A cell, sir!"

"Yeah, 'cause_ that_ will really help you…"

Blunt was watching the scene with a certain calculation. Everything so far had been a play. Alex had used their names to hear whether or not Flint would correct him on his audience, as well as adding the weekend comment to see if Flint would correct him on anything at all (because if he didn't correct that, he wouldn't have corrected the assumed audience anyway). From then on, every piece of information shared held some sort of significance.

The backchat was a show on Alex's part that he was not yet too weakened by his capture to withhold his own sarcasm. The reminder of his wound and its following statement made them privy to the knowledge that his captors had in fact tried to patch up Alex's wounds – a clue into their intentions as well as hinting at the idea that a hospital might have been involved. The comment about Scorpia was one to reassure them that they were not, in fact, dealing with Scorpia. The use of his tormentor's name wasn't a clue so much to the man's identity, since that was likely a fake name, but the implications of their relationship: Alex mentioned a "Flint" last time he'd been detained, but had they forgotten, the familiarity between the two would have said it all.

And at last, the biggest clue Alex was sending them – "A cell, sir."

Carlisle. It was an anagram from Carlisle. Alex hadn't left Carlisle – he was still somewhere within the limits of that location. One of Blunt's rarest smiles flickered briefly onto his weathered lips, bringing them to life for all of half a second.

Flint moved toward Alex, withdrawing a small key with which he used to unlock the chains around Alex. They fell away, leaving him in nothing more than his original weak ropes. Alex eyed him warily as Flint began pacing around him in circles. He abruptly stopped, reaching out in order to eventually close his fingers around Alex's broken arm. Alex's breathing became sluggish as he watched the active threat. Flint's fingers were tightening and un-tightening around the appendage.

"Does it hurt?" Flint asked slowly, his demeanor shifting. He seemed much calmer, and much more serious than before. Certainly more dangerous.

When Alex didn't respond, he applied more pressure. "Does it hurt?" he asked more forcefully.

Alex stared straight ahead of him, forcing his breathing to remain steady.

Flint's hand seized the bone, whitening his knuckles with how tightly he'd closed his arms. Alex cried out at the sudden move, but already Flint was backing away, leaving Alex feeling dizzy with the pain that had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

By the time Alex had become totally aware again, Flint had produced a small hunter's knife. Alex had his eyes fixed on it steadily; inhaling quietly even as he anticipated what Flint was going to do.

"Oh God, oh no," Mrs. Jones was whispering. "_Alan_–"

"Perhaps you should take your leave, Tulip," Alan Blunt replied without looking away from the screen. She did not take his advice, instead so entranced by the horror of the unfolding events that she might not have heard her superior speak at all. Flint kneeled down behind Alex, taking his hands and uncurling the fists. Alex did not make it easy, but it wasn't long before Flint had Alex's right palm exposed. He twirled the knife in his opposite hand, idling as Alex's breathing started to quicken.

He set the blade against the base of Alex's palm and pressed down. Alex bit his lip, watching as blood bloomed from the wound. Then he slowly dragged it up in a diagonal line, Alex twitching with the force it required to repress his reaction. Flint pressed deeper as he moved to the opposite corner, drawing the first sound from Alex. It was a strangled gasp. Glancing up, Flint saw he was already biting his lip again.

A dripping had begun once more, fast and continuous as a pool started to collect beneath Alex's hand. Alex had lost control of his breathing and shut his eyes tight, clenching his teeth as Flint placed the knife right below Alex's pointing finger, beginning the process all over again. He was carving an _X_ into Alex's palm.

Mrs. Jones stood and took a few steps back, her breathing quick and shaky. Blunt didn't need to look at her to know how badly it was affecting the woman. They'd both encountered torture videos before, but Alex Rider was young. Alex Rider was not just another agent to Mrs. Jones. He was so much _more_, and it looked like his kidnappers knew it.

She fled the room just as the first scream was torn from Alex's lips.

0o0o0o

* * *

K-unit ate dinner at the hotel's restaurant that night before retiring back to their respective rooms. When Wolf opened the door to room 211, everything seemed to be in place – other than the note on the table and the flashing _1_ on the room's phone.

Snake picked up the note first, the corners of his lips quirking up in a sardonic smile. "It's from Sanders and Kobayashi."

"What does it say?" asked Wolf, who was changing out of the stuffy suit and into something comfier.

"It says, _'Not bad for a couple of SAS grunts. –S&K'_. All the papers are gone."

"That's fine. We've still got the copies. I'm surprised they're not angrier."

Snake crumpled the note in his hand before tossing it in the bin. "Well, what can they really say? They were bested by _SAS grunts_, and they're supposed to be some of the cleverest men in Britain. It's embarrassing for them. The last thing they can do to save face is take the defeat like men."

Wolf pulled a white T-shirt over his head and shrugged. "I guess. There's a message on the machine here, too. Didn't even know you could get messages on these hotel phones…" He pressed the play button.

Mrs. Jones's voice hit their ears. "We have received word from Alex's captors. It's been determined that he is still, in fact, being held somewhere in Carlisle. K-Unit – _Wolf… _I am well aware of your self-reliance complex; I've also had years to adjust to such a thing during my time working with Alex. It's my belief that this rescue will only be successful with your help… which is also the _sole reason_ Mr. Blunt and I have been so lenient with you four. However, I urge you to use everything in your realm as a valuable resource. _As you have learned,_ doing everything on your own is _not_ the method with the highest probability of success. You've failed us once, and that's more than Alex has_ ever _done. Do not make me regret my decision to trust you in the name of your own pride…. We will be in touch. _Beep._"

Wolf sat down, rubbing his head and exhaling slowly. "… That was some message."

Snake was staring at the machine with wide eyes. "Indeed. That felt like something out of a fantasy novel."

"Are you comparing Mrs. Jones to an elf queen?"

"I'm not _not_ comparing her to an elf queen…"

There was a knock on the door, and then Eagle drifted in rubbing his eyes. Fox followed right behind. "We couldn't sleep."

Wolf rolled his eyes. "You were in there for all of five minutes. Did you even have time to brush your teeth?"

"I'll have you know that _no_, I did not."

Wolf scoffed, but it sounded more like a laugh. "Sadie sure is lucky; you're a _real_ catch…"

"Guys, we got a message from MI6," Snake interrupted, moving toward the machine and placing his finger on the button. "Listen."

As the message played, Fox and Eagle sobered up from their antics, and regarded Wolf with grave expressions when it was done. Eagle was the first to speak. "Why do you suppose Alex's captors would reveal where Alex was being held? I don't even understand what she was trying to get us to do... That made _no _sense."

"Think so?" Fox mused, stroking his chin. The other three men turned to look at him.

"What do you think, Fox?" Snake prompted. Fox was the only man in the group with any MI6 experience, so he was often best left as interpreter. Fox narrowed his eyes, seeming to fall deep in thought as he began muttering.

"It's all in the wording, you guys. Everything intelligence says is lined in code. She never said they _told_ her he was in Carlisle, she said it has been _determined._ She brought up doing things on our own _three _separate times – as well as mentioned 'resources'. You guys still haven't figured any of this out?"

While Snake and Eagle shook their heads, Wolf frowned and crossed his arms gruffly. "Just cut to the point, _Agent Fox._"

Fox smiled grimly. "Sometimes you have to focus on what they _don't_ say, too. It's like negative space. We completely duped two of their trained agents, stole confidential files and went behind everybody's back – and she didn't even mention it. There's a name for that in the world of intelligence. _Manipulation of resources."_

Slowly, comprehension started to dawn on the other three men's faces. "She was telling us… to _use_ Kobayashi and Sanders?"

"And not just them."

"… J-Unit!"

"Bingo."

0o0o0o

* * *

"Royal flush!"

"_You goddamn cheater!"_ Shark roared, standing up and grabbing the edge of the table as though he was contemplating flipping the whole thing. Lynx was rocking back and forth in raucous laughter as Tiger blinked innocently, holding his hand out to display the perfect selection of playing cards.

"… Yeah," the boy muttered, his large blue eyes wide and curious as he stared up at Shark. "Hasn't that been the point?"

"You mean you've been cheating _this whole time?"_ Shark all but exploded, snatching Tiger's cards from out of his hand and throwing them to the carpet. Hawk impassively placed down his own hand, recognizing the game to be over as soon as Shark began jumping up and down on Tiger's cards. Tiger was preparing to start wailing when Hawk sighed and turned toward their seemingly unreliable leader. Lynx was still locked in an embrace with himself, obviously finding the task to stop laughing impossible.

As soon as the group had calmed down somewhat, Hawk addressed Lynx while the man wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. "Lynx," he said, "it's been two days. Are we honestly going to stay in this room until _'further notice'_?"

Lynx grinned, displaying not a care in the world as he almost always did. He was, perhaps, the polar opposite of Wolf and about the last kind of character any sane man would appoint leadership to, should one only be exposed to this side of him. "What's wrong with that? It's all expenses paid, boys."

"Yeah, but you remember what that Kobayashi said to K-unit when they offered _their_ assistance," Shark reminded them all. "I don't think we're ever going to receive notice from them – they're pigheaded MI6 bastards, ain't they?"

Lynx just shook his head in silent amusement. "That's not going to be a problem."

"How do you suppose that?" Shark sputtered. "At this rate, our first mission's going to turn into a vacation! We'll be the laughing stock of the SAS!"

Lynx, sitting in a cross-legged position on the bed across from the table, placed both hands on his knees. "It's not going to be a problem," he repeated, "because we're not waiting for word from Kobayashi and Sanders."

Tiger blinked. "We're not?"

"Oh yeah?" Shark mocked. "Guess we'll just have to wait till the Queen phones us, is that it? Maybe the _head of MI6?"_

Lynx waved them off. "Of course not. What are you guys, crazy?"

Shark steamed while Tiger rubbed the back of his head nervously, unsure of whether or not this should be obvious to them. "Well then what are we waiting for, Lynx?" he queried.

"Further notice," he supplied, looking at them like they'd all turned deaf and blind. Shark's annoyance seemed to skyrocket Lynx's usual cryptic speech, whereas Tiger and Hawk merely looked further perplexed.

"From _who?_"

Lynx's look of lazy mirth came to a peak just as a knock sounded at their door.

0o0o0o

* * *

And the 600th review is claimed by...! Anon! Classic. Thank you guys so much for giving me such wonderful feedback, I absolutely loved reading your reviews :') and to anybody interested, I have just graduated. Yesterday was my prom. I am _so exhausted. _Just a tip for anybody looking for a grad dress: do not make the mistake of getting a tight dress. Because after you eat (read: stuff your face), you will come to regret it. You will come to regret it very much so.

I see another big chapter coming up after this one since I'm going to want to try and finish this arc soon, hopefully it will be better than this one. As usual, questions, comments, requests, I'm open!

**Next chapter: **allies, discoveries, and... Dr. Feelgood with a pair of scissors?


	25. Twists

_Shark steamed while Tiger rubbed the back of his head nervously, unsure of whether or not this should be obvious to them. "Well then what are we waiting for, Lynx?" he queried._

"_Further notice," he supplied, looking at them like they'd all turned deaf and blind. Shark's annoyance seemed to skyrocket Lynx's usual cryptic speech, whereas Tiger and Hawk merely looked further perplexed._

"_From who?"_

_Lynx's look of lazy mirth came to peak just as a knock sounded at their door._

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 25

**Twists**

Wolf and Fox were back in their suits, only this time, they appeared somewhat overdressed. K-unit and J-unit sat adjacent from each other in the hotel restaurant, each enjoying a hearty breakfast before the day began. After sitting down with the group the night before, J-unit's leader Lynx agreed to help K-unit on their own mission to get Alex back _their_ way.

"So what's the next course of action?" Eagle asked, speaking through a mouthful of eggs benedict. Wolf was seated directly across from Lynx, and while each unit turned their collective gaze to their respective leader, Lynx was staring right at Wolf, smiling in a relaxed fashion that managed to irritate Wolf just by being so co operative and benevolent.

He mulled it over in his head. "There are two places I think we need to go today," he began cautiously, "Liam's hospital and the home of Jeanette Styles."

"Liam?" Tiger piped up. Fox glanced over at him, explaining quickly,

"He was a little boy that encountered Cub after he escaped from the second hospital and now hero-worships him."

Shark was prodding his massive stack of pancakes suspiciously. "You didn't tell us a lot about Cub–"

"Alex," sounded the simultaneous amendment from all four members of K-unit. There was a beat of silence, and then Shark gruffly continued,

"… Alex. So he's seventeen and MI6? What the hell's this company want with him that they've kept him alive for almost a week? Cause if it's information, you're gonna be picking up that kid in _pieces_."

Wolf turned his sharp glare onto the most outspoken member of J-unit. The dark-haired man was easily the largest of the group, with taut muscles visible even under his tight dark shirt. He had a wide nose and thin lips situated squarely beneath permanently narrowed, unfriendly eyes. In comparison to Snake, who had the amicable air of a Scotsman, he was definitely not the picture of your traditional team medic.

"He'll be in _one_ piece, thanks very much. He's good at that kind of stuff."

"Staying in one piece?" Tiger echoed curiously. Eagle was nodding copiously at the small man.

"That and sarcasm. He's got quite the wit."

"Wit is not necessarily the word I would use," Wolf mumbled, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. Snake took a large swig of orange juice, wiping his mouth clear and sending a grin over at Shark.

"Don't worry mate, it's not information they want from him anyway."

"So you don't believe he's going to be tortured? Che, I've never met such an optimistic SAS unit before."

"Optimistic?" Wolf repeated ironically, cracking his knuckling. "Never thought I'd be called _optimistic_ in this lifetime."

"To be clear," Eagle cut in, his voice sounding colder and more severe than before. The table's attention snapped to him instantly, since it was always an attraction when Eagle got serious. "We never said we didn't believe he'd be tortured. He's in enemy hands, and he's renowned not just by the British intelligence, but most of the _first world._ I don't doubt they've put him through more than any of you can imagine by now. But that's the funny thing about Alex: he's been through more of the unimaginable than any sane person could dream up in their sleep and he _still_ has the energy to get out of bed every morning and verbally kick Wolf's ass in banter."

Snake and Fox were smiling, but Wolf firmly suppressed the urge due to the jab near the end. While Tiger already appeared awed by the description, Shark just raised his eyebrows.

"You sure have a high opinion of this kid."

Eagle laced his hands behind his head, smiling brazenly. "He's not _this kid, _Shark, my friend. He's _the _kid_. _Don't feel obligated to take _my _word for it, though – you'll see it on your own._"_

"We'll hold you to that," Lynx cut in for the first time. "I suppose you can gives us a ring when you have a little more information on the direction we will be taking. No point in us gallivanting around town with you four, right?"

Wolf gave a short nod. "Right. We're off, then."

0o0o0o

Liam was talking to a therapist when K-unit arrived at Carlisle Memorial Hospital at noon, so they didn't see him around. Rather than moving up to the third floor as they'd done last time, they stayed to the first, reaching the laboratory with the help of Dr. Rooks.

"They spent more time in here than with any actual patients," the old man grunted, nodding at the door of the lab. "A useless bunch, in my opinion."

"What do you believe went on in this lab, Dr. Rooks?" Fox asked. Dr. Rooks turned his irritated gaze on the man with an air of reluctance. It didn't seem like anything personal so much as a general dislike and distrust of _more_ strangers investigating the hospital.

"It's difficult to say," he sighed. "They didn't tell us anything, remember; they were very secretive and they had all the right documents. There was some speculation that the patient they had had transferred here had some kind of rare contagious disease that required containment, and that's why no doctors outside of the loop were permitted to interact with him. So most believed whatever they were developing in here was for their patient. A cure, perhaps?"

Fox lightly tipped his head to the side, gazing at Dr. Rooks carefully. He wasn't telling them something.

"But that's not what you think… is it?" Fox asked boldly. Dr. Rooks's frown deepened, and then he was looking to the door again.

"It didn't feel like a cure," he murmured. "It felt much more sinister. These did not seem like dedicated professionals working to solve some kind of deadly sickness. They were much more like scientists if you spoke to them – cold and calculating, with little patience for people. Now why would someone like that become a doctor, tell me?"

"I haven't the slightest clue," Fox conceded. "Do you mind?"

The four entered the room quietly, since the silence permeating from the space felt like thin ice that might crack at the drop of a pin. Long shadows stretched out from the base of the counters until the florescent lights flickered on, and K-unit was treated to the view of a spotless medical laboratory.

Eagle moaned, shattering the heavy atmosphere. "Great. More perfectly covered tracks."

"Now, Eagle," Fox snipped, his blue eyes sliding over each and every surface for the slightest detail. Tarnished steel, a dented corner on that examination table, and was that a burn mark on the ceiling above it? He licked his lips.

"You and I both know there's no such thing as perfectly covered tracks."

Dr. Rooks left them to their nitpicking as the four poured over the room, sliding fingers over counters, tearing through cupboards and inspecting every nook and cranny the room had to offer. Ten minutes into the search, Snake made a discovery.

The man had one hand jammed as far back into one of the four special refrigerators in the lab, cocked at an uncomfortable angle in order to explore unseen areas. When his fingers brushed something cold and smooth, his eyes lit up.

"Guys," he called, pushing his shoulder even further into the fridge in order pinch the glass object between his fingers. "I found something in this fridge. I think it fell – this shelf was pushed forward a little."

The group asked Dr. Rooks about it when he returned, and while it was determined that the clear substance was scentless, they had no idea what it did, and the vial it was held in was unlabelled.

"It should be labeled," Dr. Rooks was murmuring under his breath for the millionth time. "We have a very strict policy on labeling all substances. I can run some tests on it to find out what it's for, if you'd like, but I won't have any results for you until tomorrow at the earliest. I _do_ have a job to do in this hospital, after all!"

They left the haughty doctor with a chorus of sincere thank you's before pausing on their way out the door and revisiting the reception desk. Mrs. Bagley easily recognized them and smiled, adjusting her horn-rimmed glasses as they approached.

"Welcome back, boys," she said. "Any progress?"

"Some," Eagle offered. "We wanted to ask you once more about Dr. Styles?"

"Sick again, I'm afraid," the elderly woman replied. "The poor thing."

0o0o0o

* * *

From the day prior, 802 Baker Street had changed in one aspect: there was now a dark red car parked in the driveway. Wolf straightened his tie as he moved up the front steps alongside Fox, clutching a large packet of folders in his hands. The doorbell could be heard ringing throughout the house, and had to be pressed a second time before footsteps were detected behind the door.

There was a pause, and Wolf assumed she was looking through the peephole. Then the door opened.

Dr. Styles was every bit as beautiful in real life as she was in her photograph. She wore a black, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of navy cut-offs. Her full lips were parted as she took in the two official-looking men, eyebrows rising at the wrinkled state of Wolf's suit. She did not look impressed when she met his eyes.

"The sign says no soliciting," she quipped, rubbing her jaw. Wolf narrowed his eyes. He could tell she knew they weren't there to sell her anything.

"Are you Jeanette Styles?"

She nodded her head, and Wolf found himself twitching with instincts. Dr. Styles kept one hand just behind the doorframe, seemingly flat on the wall beyond, but Wolf couldn't see it. It was little things such as this that often placed him on edge. "And you are?"

"Agent Sanders of MI6," he responded coolly, "and this is Agent Kobayashi."

She had the eyes of a bird-of-prey. As she moved away from the door in order to beckon them inside, Wolf noted two things. Firstly, that she moved with the silent grace of someone who _required _it – the same kind of fluid movement that Alex possessed, which had often lead him to accidentally sneak up on Wolf many times – and secondly, that she still hadn't revealed her left hand.

Wolf was not alone in this observation. The two of them gazed at her pointedly, and seemingly unaware of their point of distress, she casually pulled the hand out from behind the door in order to gesture toward the hallway. She wasn't holding anything.

"Are you going to come in?" she asked, and ignoring the tense feeling in his stomach, Wolf entered, followed swiftly by Fox.

The mahogany door shut behind them hard, but it wasn't quite a slam. They followed her into the living room and eventually the kitchen, where a pot was sitting on the red-hot stove. Next to it on the counter sat a cutting board filled with various vegetables. She swiped something off the counter before holding them up before them.

"Carrot?" she offered, her previously impassive face now taking on the first bit of emotion they could spy – interest. Fox coughed into his fist, shaking his head no. She shrugged before picking up a pair of scissors in order to cut off the green stems.

"So what can I do for you men?"

"Dr. Styles," Fox addressed, revealing to her that they'd done their homework, "it's our understanding that you're a full-time employee of Carlisle Memorial Hospital as of three weeks ago, correct?"

_Shing. _Wolf swallowed. Those were a very loud pair of scissors – it was obvious they had been recently sharpened. Shifting on his feet, he did a brief sweep of the room. While there were no shotguns resting in corners or antique swords mounted above fireplaces, he still found the white-walled space ominous, if only because of the lack of personalization. It could easily be assumed she'd just moved in and hadn't had much time to decorate yet, being a doctor and all, but if that was the case then where were all her boxes?

"… That's correct," she replied without looking at them.

"Dr. Styles, were you acquainted with a Dr. Gallagher?"

She nodded shortly.

"As well as a McKinnon, Warley, and Finnegan, I presume?"

She slowly lowered the handful of carrots back down to the cutting board, her left hand still clutching the pair of scissors. "… You two said you were MI6?"

"Sanders – Sanders and Kobayashi," Wolf offered again, feeling sweat begin to gather in his palms. This whole situation felt wrong. His intuition was flaring up with an undeniable sense of danger.

"Which sector?"

"… Seven," Wolf mumbled randomly, wishing he'd managed to get a copy of the two agents' files as well.

"… Right."

Wolf's body suddenly pitched backwards, narrowly managing to avoid a pair of scissors to the gut. Mid-collapse, his feet twisted and he caught himself in a plank right before he hit the ground, using his arms to leap up into a handstand and jump back four feet, skidding next to Fox. The man had been given just enough time to remove his gun and was now flicking the safety off, ordering coldly,

"Drop the scissors."

Dr. Styles crossed her legs and allowed the scissors to slip between her fingers, harmlessly falling to the ground as she gazed evenly between Wolf and Fox. Wolf pulled his handgun out from the waistband of his trousers and pointed it at her as well. She carelessly placed her hands in the air, raising her eyebrows at them.

"So who are you _really_?" she asked in a drawl, her American accent more obvious than ever. Wolf stared at her.

"_Us?" _he said, waving his gun around angrily,_ "_Who are _we_ really? You're the supposed 'doctor' who just lunged at me with a pair of goddamn scissors! Who the hell are _you?"_

"Certainly not the diplomacy I'd expect to see from Britain's finest," she commented dispassionately. "You two aren't MI6. Who are you?"

"We're asking the questions here," Fox snapped. "You're not a doctor – you're working with _them._"

"Them?" she repeated innocently, faint amusement present beneath her words.

"Capricorn – or whatever they're calling themselves these days. The people who have Alex."

Her thin, arched eyebrows rose. "_Oh. _Well, this is interesting. You know Alex Rider… personally?"

Wolf swallowed, gazing at her resolutely. Fox's eyes were equally hard as he offered a simple response. "Yes. We're going to get him back; it's as black-and-white as that. And your pretty face is not going to stop us from ending you right here if you get in our way."

Wolf glanced over to his teammate in soft surprise. Fox looked so deadly serious that not even Wolf would have argued with him. Facing Dr. Styles again, he was surprised to spot a delighted smile begin at the corners of her lips. A second later and she was moving her hands down in a gesture of openness, revealing instantly,

"Well then – you and I are on the same side. Lana Knight, CIA."

She'd produced her ID before either man could blink, throwing it in their direction. Wolf immediately took a step back from where the item landed a couple feet away from him; meanwhile, Fox did not bother to exercise the same precautions. Approaching the black-cased card, he found the blank face of one twenty-eight year-old Lana Susanne Knight, official CIA operative.

Fox's eyes flickered over it, removing the case and holding it up under the light of the living room. He was poking and prodding at the ID with a critical eye, so Wolf had to assume he knew all the right places to check in order to make sure it hadn't been falsified. Lana Knight remained where she was. She seemed perfectly comfortable now that her cover had been blown.

Eventually Fox tossed the ID back to the woman, who caught it midair and tucked it back into the inside of her jumper, stashing it God knows where. The three sat down in the living room and Wolf began to slowly explain their situation – they'd been sent alongside two MI6 agents as the brute force necessary for the safe retrieval of Alex Rider, British-turned-international spy, but had pretty much hijacked the operation with the permission of Tulip Jones, deputy of MI6, who just so happened to have a large soft spot for the young agent.

"Why you?" she asked, leaning in and gazing at Wolf. She puckered her lips as his eyes moved down to the base of the coffee table between them.

"I made a mistake," he replied quietly. Fox remained silent. "Alex is – was… my charge. I was responsible for his safety when he was captured. From there I dug my own grave by failing to rescue him and act with appropriate caution."

"So you care about him," Lana deduced, although it sounded more like an accusation. Wolf did not give any indication if this was correct or not, but in truth, he really didn't need to. It was written all over his face in guilt.

Fox cut in there. "I'm a former MI6 agent, just so you know that we're not any old group of soldiers playing chess with no rules. Wolf here is our leader – the other two members of our unit are waiting outside. We're called K-unit. I'm Fox."

"Do I really have to call you by your codenames?"

"To be honest, we'll probably respond quicker. Some of us have all but forgotten our real names."

Wolf let out a huff of laughter at this. "Ben _who?_"

"Nov… Nova… you're not related to that crazy _Tamara–"_

"As a matter of fact, I am," Lana spoke up, replying to a question that had not been directed at her. Fox and Wolf glanced back in her direction from their antics, astonishment covering their features like glue.

"W-what?" Wolf stammered. "Tamara – Tamara McCarthy?"

"Tamara Knight," she deadpanned. "I have a sister called Tamara."

"Jesus Christ," Fox whispered to Wolf. "There's _two _of them!"

"Different Tamara," Wolf dismissed, addressing Lana. "Would you mind if I let in my other two subordinates? They're probably really bored."

"By all means," Lana conceded. Wolf narrowed his eyes at her. She had a very predatory stance, as though her whole body was poised to pounce at any moment. Shaking his head, he moved toward the door.

_I hate military intelligence._

0o0o0o

* * *

"So you're no longer involved with them?"

"That's correct," Lana replied, placing her cup of tea down on the coffee table. The group of four had since settled back into the living room and begun straightening things out so they could develop a plan. As it turned out, Lana Knight had been sent by the CIA to investigate not only the budding terrorist group that was calling itself "Capricorn" but the advancement of an expensive drug being developed by said organization. From there she'd discovered the imprisonment of Alex Rider and had since been placed on rescue detail from the inside – only things had gone somewhat wrong.

"His second escape was the result of my negligence. He knocked me out using my own mobile phone. Quite the embarrassment, but a showcase of talent on his part, I must say."

"Yeah, yeah, we all know how _amazing_ of a spy Alex is," Wolf grumbled. "That's why he's_ in the business_, anyway. What happened after that?"

Lana had her strange gaze set on Wolf's tense form. "You're impatient."

Wolf rolled his eyes. "This will go a lot faster if we can leave the customary Cub-worship until the end, that's all."

"Right," she said, smiling. "As you wish. Alex was captured again shortly after that in the hospital room of Liam Townsend. The ridiculous part there was that he probably could have escaped had he not stopped to chat with a seven year-old boy."

She shook her head.

"I was reprimanded for letting him escape and most of the doctors involved believed I did it on purpose. I was discharged from the team and later that night an assassin was sent for me."

Fox smiled. "I'm sure that went over well."

"It certainly did not," Lana huffed. "He spilled pasta sauce all over my blouse when I threw him into the counters."

"Sounds like one inconsiderate assassin, I'd say."

"They generally do lack that trait, as unfortunate as it is. Overall, my mission has proven to be a failure. I was not proficient in learning much about the inexplicable drug, nor was I able to secure Alex Rider. I also lost my chance to provide insider intel."

"You must not be looking forward to returning to America."

"Well," she objected, "it's not over yet."

Wolf's eyes fell to the ground. _It's not over. _When would it be over? He felt as though Alex had been gone for years.

"I fully intend to recover Alex Rider. I also plan on bringing a sample of the drug back home."

"But you don't know where Alex is being held anymore, do you?"

"Not exactly. I have a few ideas, but above all, I have my largest lead: McKinnon."

"One of the doctors?" Snake inquired.

"Yes. He's trying to get me into bed with him. I'm seeing him tomorrow night."

"What are you going to do – seduce the answers from him?" Eagle asked.

"In a way," she sniffed. "However, I have slightly less… agreeable methods in mind. He will not stay quiet for long."

The cogs in Wolf's brain were turning, and as soon as they came to a halt, the slightest perceptible smile appeared at the corner of Wolf's lips. He leaned forward and placed both hands on his knees, a dangerous gleam reflecting off the porcelain cups and off his dark eyes.

"I have an offer for you, Mrs. Knight. What would you say if I told you I have a sample of that drug being analyzed at Carlisle Memorial right now?"

Her lips parted. "… How–"

"I presume you'll have the information on Alex's whereabouts by tomorrow night, then. Beyond K-unit, we also have four more trained soldiers ready to back the rescue mission. I have a feeling it would be a good idea for us to stick together."

Lana appeared delighted. She kept her blue eyes trained on Wolf's confident form like they were glued there. "Not bad for an–"

"SAS grunt," Wolf said tiredly, shaking his head and getting to his feet. "You spies are all the same."

0o0o0o

* * *

"What do you mean _you don't know?"_

Wolf was glaring at Dr. Rooks with open hostility. The man had both his arms slack at his sides, and he looked even more tired as usual. He gazed flatly at Wolf, his weathered face betraying little remorse for the information stub.

"I'm sorry," he replied, "but administering a machine with a substance is not the same as administering a human with it. I can't tell you exactly what it does – what do you think animal testing is around for?"

"Morbid kicks?" Snake muttered, kicking the ground in frustration.

Dr. Rooks frowned. "I can tell you this much. There are a number of chemicals in it with hallucinogenic properties. It really is a mess of a concoction – I _can_ tell you it isn't any kind of _cure. _If anything, I'd guess it was simply some kind of over-complicated poison, but with other chemicals that suggest recreational drug usages. I… don't know."

"Well, that's just_ great_," Wolf snapped, rubbing his forehead and turning away from the man. He paced back toward the door, hesitating in front of it. Fox and Snake were looking at Wolf uneasily, while Eagle's face remained unreadable.

The reason K-unit was so upset by the drug's inconclusive results on its specific effects was because all four felt guilty that they were staying comfortably in a prepaid hotel while Alex was experiencing God-knows-what in his captivity. Lana had already told them that the drug was being administered to Alex. The slightest comfort they could take would be from knowing at least _what_ Alex was going through – but now they were even being denied that. And Alex would never explain it to them himself – that just wasn't his style.

Wolf slammed a fist against the wall, eliciting a flinch from Dr. Rooks. "_Dammit!_"

Fox glanced down and caught the way Eagle's fists clenched at the curse word.

"I'm sick of this… so sick of playing these fucking games we never win. Jesus, why does all this shit need to have to flock to _one damn kid?"_

He turned, allowing his teammates to see the raw frustration in his eyes. It was true that they had a lead on Alex, but this felt like half the battle: knowing exactly_ what _Alex was going through because of their mistakes felt almost like retribution, because it was proof of their guilt. So now it was like they were getting off easy when they least deserved it, adding to the already heavy weight of responsibility K-unit – and Wolf in particular – carried on their shoulders.

There was a beat of silence among the group. Eagle closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. The clock on the wall clicked six o' clock.

And then, before any of them could register the action, his hand had shot out and swiped the vial off the table. He threw his head back and dumped the clear contents down his throat without a trace of hesitation.

"_E-Eagle!_"

Wolf spun around at Snake's shout, glancing between the empty vial in Eagle's hand and the determined look on the man's face. Then his eyes widened.

"_You–"_

Eagle winced, dropping his hard gaze to the ground as the vial began to grow cloudy from the heat of his grip. "One of us had to do it."

Dr. Rooks was gaping at the blonde like he'd just watched him throw himself off a bridge. "What… what the _hell _did you just do? _What in God's name is wrong with you?"_

"Eagle – Jesus Christ, Eagle, here, just – just take a seat…" Snake ushered him to one of the chairs in the room as Eagle sat down, refusing to look at Wolf even while his leader continued to look nowhere else. Eventually the man growled,

"You're one rare kind of stupid, Oliver."

It was extremely uncommon for Wolf – or any of them for that matter – to use their real names, and usually only emerged in cases similar to when a parent refers to their child's full name in a moment of fury. However, anger was not the predominant emotion in Wolf's voice. If anything, the man sounded grimly resigned… understanding, even.

Eagle swallowed, staring down at the speckled white linoleum tiles. The group paid no mind to the still-shocked doctor behind them.

"You'll have to get your stomach pumped, for Christ's sake–"

"No," Eagle interjected flatly. "I need to see what it does first. _We_ do."

"It could react to your body in any number of ways – heavens, if you're on any kind of other medication it could _kill you!_ I'm going to–"

"Dr. Rooks," Snake snapped, refusing to look away from Eagle's still form. "He's not _willing. _We will take action if it seems like he's about to drop dead,_ got it?_"

Dr. Rooks stared at the group. "You're just as crazy as the rest of them – the whole lot of you!"

Wolf reached out, his arm passing inches away from Eagle's face as he grasped the back of the chair adjacent to him. Then he pulled it forward and sat down so the two were facing each other, a certain bleak acceptance present in their rigid postures. Eagle's skin was steadily taking on a pallid appearance. Dr. Rooks took a seat across the room, unwilling to leave the group alone until the danger had passed.

After about ten minutes Eagle's breathing quickened. A sheen of sweat appeared across his skin, and he was feeling hotter and hotter by the second. Snake placed a hand against the man's forehead, concluding he had developed a fever. As tremors began to wrack Eagle's body he squeezed his eyes closed, fighting the pain that was resonating from his stomach outwards throughout his body.

Throughout the gradual change Wolf watched on impassively.

Eventually Eagle opened his eyes again. The whites had become slightly bloodshot while his pupils had dilated to twice their original size despite remaining under the bright florescent lighting. He was staring just past Wolf, a look of slow-acting horror taking over his pinched features.

The flecks in the white linoleum were bit by bit drawing together to form a black puddle in the middle of the room, fluctuating and growing larger as each speckle flooded in. Soon the dark pool began to ripple, folding in on itself until it had grown vertically, a five-foot tall mass seeming to be taking on an animal-like shape. As he watched, the sleek black substance squeezed out six limbs, while the head of a monster spun freakishly into being.

He was staring at some kind of distorted mythical beast, with the legs of a fox, the tail of a snake, the wings of an eagle and the head of a wolf. It let out an ear-splitting roar, causing Eagle to slap his hands over his ears and cringe. The world around him was melting and darkening into the same substance that had created this _thing,_ morphing into that of the burning warehouse they had recovered Alex and Wolf from.

His skin was sizzling from the close proximity of the flames, but when he tried to stand up out of the chair he discovered he was locked in, a strong pressure against his shoulders keep him in place. The four-part monster was observing the fire with interest, its orange eyes roaming over the flames hungrily.

Until those same eyes landed on Eagle.

The breath caught in his throat as it zoomed away from him, so there was a good mile of distance between them. Then the tiny form started running so that it seemed to increase in size as it got closer, massive jaws snapping. Eagle seized against whatever was holding him down, crying out against the hold as he found his hands locked at the wrists, curling up uselessly against the cushiony fabric.

"_It's getting closer oh hell it's coming let me go let me go let me_–!"

He broke off into a gasp as the monster leaped, its giant claws inches away from Eagle's face as the man clenched his eyes shut in pure terror. His scream went unheard by the monster as it let out a deafening roar, but for Eagle, the pain never came – instead he felt the warm splatter of something else his face.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself gazing up at one of the most horrible scenes he'd ever imagined. Slumped in front of him was Alex, with four huge claws sunken straight through his stomach and chest. The sound of his ragged breathing was wet and uneven, and on top of that he was suspended above Eagle by the monster's grip. He turned his head so that he was looking at Eagle's stricken face, and then his hand twitched and he was raising a trembling arm up next to him, his hand arranging itself into a reassuring thumbs-up.

Eagle screamed and struggled as the picture morphed so that it was no longer Alex in the monster's clutches but, worse still, Sadie, whose thin, fragile body looked shattered in the claws of the beast. She slid down and landed roughly in his lap, and then he was crying but unable to touch her as her blue eyes bore up into his green ones accusingly.

"…–gle! _Eagle, you're only imagining it, snap out of it!"_

Eagle was shaking his head, inconsolable as Sadie's body turned to ashes in his lap, slipping down between his knees into the dark abyss that had opened up beneath him. He was falling and the monster was gone but so was Sadie and all that was left was loss and disbelief until–

He was remembering the first time Wolf had administered him praise.

"_You're a half-decent technician, codename Eagle."_

He was reliving the first time he met Sadie.

"_I'm sorry, but I couldn't help noticing how beautiful you are… could I have your number?"_

_She glanced up, lips puckered around the end of her straw as her eyes betrayed how unimpressed she was. "Sure. It's in the phonebook."_

"_But I don't know your name!" he protested._

_She smiled. "Oh, it's in there too!"_

He was listening to Wolf's desperate shouts from behind the veil of flames back in the warehouse.

_"Stay with me, please! PLEASE!"_

He was sobbing into Sadie's arms after Alex's death.

"_H-he was just one kid – and we let him die, we let him get killed, we couldn't protect the only boy we've ever been asked to keep safe–"_

He was staring up into Wolf's urgent brown eyes.

"Eagle? Eagle, are you with us?"

Eagle opened his mouth to speak, but no sound emerged. He was on his back.

"_Report,_ Eagle!"

That sounded more familiar.

"Here," he whispered.

Wolf let out the breath he'd been holding, leaning back so that it was now Snake's face looming above him. Eagle moved his head so that he was looking at his limp hand lying on the linoleum, registering vaguely that it was trembling.

His eyes caught on the speckled pattern, and he swallowed when he saw them begin to shake as well, swirling–

"Can you move?"

Eagle's head snapped up to meet Snake's hazel eyes. He knew what that meant and instantly wiggled his toes, discovering that at some point someone had removed his shoes. Above Snake Dr. Rooks could be spotted looking absolutely stricken by whatever he had just watched occur.

Fox and Snake helped Eagle back to his feet, where he immediately noticed the chairs they'd been sitting in. Wolf's was turned a different direction and his lay fallen on its side.

"Eagle…" Fox's worried voice filtered in, "what happened?"

Eagle shook his head, closing his eyes to better recall the events. "I'm… I'm not sure. I was ha… hallucinating, I think."

He looked down and involuntarily shuddered. "Horrible things…"

Wolf stepped forward. "What did you see?" he demanded.

Eagle kept his gaze low to the ground. "I saw… the burning warehouse. And some kind of fucked-up monster, a-and…"

He choked up. Fox moved to place an arm around Eagle's shoulders, shooting a concerned look at Wolf.

"It's alright, mate... You can tell us later." Eagle just shook his head. Snake turned to Dr. Rooks.

"Right, well…" He cleared his throat. "We're off, then."

0o0o0o

* * *

The door to Alex's holding room was shoved open by someone other than Flint for the first time since Alex had been placed in it. Cracking open his eyes, Alex's bleary vision managed to make out the brown hair and white coat of some kind of doctor.

"Alex Rider," a voice greeted him. "It seems we've been compromised. We were due for a little change of scenery anyway, though, wouldn't you agree?"

He moved closer to inspect Alex's full condition. The teenager was slumped in his chair, ropes and chains both locked firmly in place over his arms and pressing them flat against his sides in a very uncomfortable position. His hands were still stinging with pain, but seeing as he could not look at them nor touch them, he was forced to put the feeling out of his mind while simultaneously being denied the respite of sleep. He was sure the bucket of ice water had been increased to at least every twenty minutes now.

"How about this for a change of scenery," Alex growled. "You take up residency in the morgue. _Permanently._"

"Such_ rage_."

Alex didn't have the energy roll his eyes anymore, so he opted for a response of silent loathing. His whole body ached, and his every muscle felt the strain of a fifty-mile marathon despite the fact that he hadn't properly moved in days. Alex had never felt so weak.

Three men seeped out from the hall and in through the doorway, finally drawing a smirk to Alex's face. Even half-crippled, they'd still bumped him up plus-one thug. It wasn't the best idea to base one's sense of worth as a spy on how many henchmen are assigned to manhandle you, but then again, Alex executed a lot of not-great ideas.

As soon as the first of the three came within arm's reach of Alex, Alex raised his head and bared his teeth in the most feral way he could muster. "You forgot to gag me," he snarled, his reddened eyes gleaming. "_Say goodbye to your fingers._"

All three men stopped, quite obviously frightened by the threat. They glanced over at the original speaker, who waved his hands impatiently. "Are you seriously afraid of _that?_ Look at him; he's completely at our mercy."

"Famous last words," Alex hissed in a voice lower and more dangerous than any of them could remember hearing in any of the videos.

Still the three men did not move. A satisfied smile worked its way across Alex's face, and the boss finally snapped.

"Are you three _completely incompetent? _He's a half-dead _kid_ for Christ's sake! Grab him and let's go already! Move, move, move!"

The trio burst into action, closing in around Alex and maneuvering the chains so that they were no longer attached to the chair but still firmly around Alex's body, immobilizing his arms. He glared venomously at each and every one of them, radiating as much killing intent as he could to make the hairs stand up on the back of their arms. However, seeing as he was unable to properly stand on his own, his intimidation tactics did not work for much longer.

The largest brute delivered him a hard kick to the shin, collapsing his already unsteady legs and sending him to his knees. Laughing, the man next to him followed the example duplicating the movement to Alex's shoulder. Alex hit the ground landing roughly on his side, gritting his teeth against the pain while silently thanking the gods that he hadn't landed on his broken arm.

A steel-toed boot came down to rest on his neck, applying just enough pressure to hurt without preventing his breathing. "Yeah, you're a real tough guy."

Alex gritted his teeth, all of his previous good-humor gone in the face of the three ignorant thugs. "I'd like to see you say that to me when I don't have twenty pounds of chains binding my arms, you fucking coward. In fact, I'll be sure to test your confidence again_ once I escape._"

He was administered a powerful boot to the back, knocking the wind from his lungs and dizzying him out of coherency. "_Good luck with that,_" he heard one of them sneer as he grabbed a string of chain and roughly dragged him to his feet, shoving him toward the door.

Alex was panting with exertion and throbbing with pain, but he grinned through his blood-streaked teeth anyway, responding defiantly in a breathless gasp,

"_Thanks."_

0o0o0o

* * *

"Jeanette," Alfred McKinnon greeted languidly, his eyes freely roaming over her curvy figure. "What a pleasure it is to see you."

Lana "Jeanette Styles" was currently wrapped in a tight-fitting black dress that clung to just above the knees, wearing otherwise nothing more than a simple pair of high heels. She had her fair hair curled and teased, attracting to herself somewhat of a porn star appeal. Lana smiled, the dim light passing through the doorway illuminating her red lips and drawing McKinnon's eyes to them.

"Good evening, Alfred," she murmured, and the older man gestured for her to come inside. Alfred McKinnon had a long face and a thin, hawkish nose, with dark eyes hooded beneath even darker eyebrows. He had salt-and-pepper facial hair coming in on his chin and cheekbones and sagging skin bagging dark circles. He was by no means an attractive man, but he would certainly not stick out on the streets as anything out of the ordinary, and would not inspire scowls the same way someone like Flint might.

The night wore on and fifteen minutes later the two were speaking in hushed tones from McKinnon's kitchen where the man was preparing drinks for the two. Eventually the pair began to progress in their actions, as Lana shed her dress to reveal lacy undergarments and McKinnon expressed his positive feelings on the slinky lingerie.

He also went on to explain his sexual preferences, which included the kinkier areas such as bondage and discipline. What he didn't realize was that Lana had done her research on his previous sexual escapades and already knew this – in fact, she'd been counting on it.

McKinnon was a very wealthy man. He was also quite well-protected. Each room had a camera running, and there were guards on standby prepared to protect their employer. Of course, they had also been made aware of his _preferences,_ and had since been told not to panic should they see him tied up and being abused by an attractive woman.

His mistake was cheaping out on the cameras. They provided clear black-white-footage, but they were soundless.

As soon as McKinnon was properly bound in his chain in the middle of the room, Lana's demeanor changed. She moved so that she was standing just behind him and out of view from the camera, passing by her dress and sliding her hand beneath the fabric as she went. McKinnon shivered as she lowered her head down onto his shoulder so her lips were inches away from his ear, and then a small click sounded and even McKinnon's slightest movements froze.

"That was a gun," she whispered, "and you are going to tell me exactly where Alex Rider is being held."

McKinnon's eyes widened. "Who are you?"

"Irrelevant," she brushed him off. "There are two things that can happen here for two different reasons. I have been given orders to exterminate each member of your organization. However, I've also been given orders to retrieve Alex Rider. The second order takes priority over the first."

She pressed the barrel of the gun a little harder into McKinnon's back, sliding her other hand up and down his bound arm sensually. Then she placed a kiss on his neck, keeping up the appearance for the camera that nothing was out of place.

"I will not promise not to kill you, but I will promise this: if you tell me where the boy is, I will not seek you out. You can escape to Switzerland if you so choose. You have been offered an out that none of your colleagues will be given. But if you give me the incorrect address, I can guarantee that I will find you and make you regret it in the… least… pleasurable… way…"

McKinnon shuddered.

"H-h-how do I know you won't kill me right after I tell you?"

"Well, you don't," Lana conceded, smiling abstractly. "But what are your options other than to trust me right now? Dead men cannot enjoy their fortunes… only their eternities in hell."

McKinnon jerked his head to the side as she pressed her lips against the corner of his mouth. "Have we come to an agreement, Alfred? I hope you understand that you are of no further use to me if we have not."

"Eleven-seventeen Baldwin Road," he mumbled. "We've been keeping him in the basement. Eleven-seventeen, Baldwin Road. But he's – he's being moved."

"When?" she demanded.

"Tonight."

"To where?"

"I don't know."

"Don't lie to me, Alfred."

"_I don't know! _The plans have changed! We were contacted by MI6. They told us they would not negotiate with us for his return. Warley wanted to kill him, but Gallagher… he had other plans."

Lana's eyes narrowed. So MI6 had decided to place everything in the hands of the wonder-unit. Just _perfect._ "What are these plans?'

"He – the boy – has… enemies. Many people were willing to pay to get their hands on him. There was one organization who was offering three times as much as our second-highest bidder. The trade, it's… it's tonight. It's happening tonight. And – and Gallagher, he predicted someone might come after one of us to seize the opportunity – that's why he didn't tell us where they were moving the boy. He's directing it. The rest of us are on standby."

"_Who is the organization?"_

"…"

"_Alfred._"

He sucked in a tight breath. Closed his eyes.

"… _Scorpia._"

A grimace appeared on Lana's face. "… Idiots – you're all _idiots. _You should know better than to do business with _Scorpia._"

"But the money–"

"Will never get to you," she finished. Then she tucked the gun back beneath the folds of the black dress splayed across the couch behind her. McKinnon released a sigh.

"Thank you for your cooperation," she said curtly in a final breathless murmur before slamming her elbow into the side of his neck, effectively knocking him unconscious. She estimated she had about a minute before the guard situated in front of the cameras glanced away from his internet porn to discover the scene and sounded the alarm.

Wolf had been waited for her in the other room. He'd insisted on accompanying her should anything go wrong and she require the assistance. As a signal to reveal himself, she wolf-whistled – a joke Fox had suggested in jest that she'd decided to adopt anyway.

Wolf appeared around the corner, perfectly stern and serious until his eyes locked on Lana's state of erotic attire. He paused in the doorway, seemingly entranced by the picture. Lana gazed right back, almost issuing a challenge with the look.

After a very long moment, she pulled her dress into her arms and started across the room towards him. He waited quietly, an unreadable expression on his face.

She stopped directly in front of him, where he towered a good six inches over her. They continued to silently stare at one another until finally, Wolf's hand shot out to wrap around her waist, pressing her body forcefully against his own. They locked lips right when the alarm sounded.

Lana broke away from him, shooting him one last intense look before taking off down the hallway, followed closely by Wolf. There was a window at the end in which Wolf slammed his foot into, shattering the glass and disappearing into the night. Snake was waiting with the car a block away, and by the time the guards had freed McKinnon and organized themselves, the femme fatale and her accomplice were already long gone.

Wolf swung into passenger seat, instantly relaying what they'd learned to Snake as the man shot off in the direction of the hotel.

"He's being moved _tonight? _But we're nowhere _near_ prepared! Jesus Christ, what about _Eagle?_"

"Yeah, well," Wolf muttered, glaring straight ahead of him at the city racing past, "you'd better get J-unit and Fox on the phone. 'Cause if_ Scorpia_ gets a hold of Alex before we do … we're not getting him back."

0o0o0o

* * *

9300 words - guess I might be getting impatient... And hey! Almost exactly a month later! Woo!

**Kind of a bummer: **I was checking my traffic, and even though chapter 23 was ten thousand words I'd ended up with a 1,248 hits to 25-review ratio (and many of these are the brief-but-still-appreciated "great chapter update soon"s). Although the reviews I do receive are always really sweet, seeing that kind of difference makes me feel kinda lame – that means one in fifty people that read the last chapter reviewed. So if some of you anonymous readers could find it in your heart to give back a little to this author, I'll do my best to reply to all my reviews, even the small ones, and update even faster. Reviews are a massive part of my (and many other fanfiction writers') muse: they get the ball rolling and make us feel really special, especially when readers include their ideas for the story or specific things they enjoyed in the chapter/would like to see more of. I think some people forget that fanfiction authors _share_ for the feedback – if just writing it was enough for them, why would they go to the trouble of publishing any of it? To the wonderful people who send me feedback on a regular basis, thank you thank you thank you :'D you guys make this story so fun to write!

Anyway, some things unrelated to this story (for anybody interested): firstly, I watched_ Leon: The Professional _the other day and am now regretting not somehow fitting Yassen into this. Seriously, how badly do I want to write an Assassin!Alex working alongside Yassen at the moment? Gah. If anybody who loves Alex Rider hasn't seen that awesome flick, go – go now. It's got a twelve year old Natalie Portman, some of the best action scenes I have ever seen, amazing acting/writing, AND JUST OVERALL AWESOMENESS.

And on the subject of movie inspiration, I was detoxing from a camping trip a little while ago by drinking green tea and watching The Fox and the Hound… and I somehow got it in my head that there needed to be an Alex Rider fic based off that movie with Tom as Todd and Alex as Copper. Just sayin'…

Also, I watched the first two seasons of _Misfits._ I'm so upset that there isn't more fanfiction for it but I can't bring myself to write any because they're all so British and I'm so bad at the British thing. Plus, I'm too scared I'll butcher their characters. Also, I didn't watch season three… for one simple reason. Nathan wasn't in it. I watched that show for Nathan alone. He was just too perfect. Jesus, Robert Sheehan might be the most beautiful actor I have ever seen in my life.

Fun fact: Anthony Horowitz announced that Tamara Knight's name is play on "tomorrow night", so as her sister, Lana's is meant to sound akin to "last night".

Uh, so, that bit with Lana and Wolf… _-cough cough-…_ I have absolutely no viable excuse.

**Next chapter:** Eagle pays the price for his impulsive actions, and the long-awaited _reunion._

P.S. How does my little story cover look? I did one for almost all of my stories if anybody wants to take a glance. Got somewhat carried away...


	26. Never Forgive, Never Forget

_She stopped directly in front of him, where he towered a good six inches over her. They continued to silently stare at one another until finally, Wolf's hand shot out to wrap around her waist, pressing her body forcefully against his own. They locked lips right when the alarm sounded._

_Lana broke away from him, shooting him one last intense look before taking off down the hallway, followed closely by Wolf. There was a window at the end which Wolf slammed his foot into, shattering the glass and disappearing into the night. Snake was waiting with the car a block away, and by the time the guards had freed McKinnon and organized themselves, the femme fatale was already long gone._

_Wolf swung into passenger seat, instantly relaying what they'd learned to Snake as the man shot off in the direction of the hotel._

"_He's being moved__** tonight?**__ But we're nowhere__** near **__prepared! Jesus Christ, what about __**Eagle?**__"_

"_Yeah, well," Wolf muttered, glaring straight ahead of him at the city racing past, "you'd better get J-unit and Fox on the phone. 'Cause if Scorpia gets a hold of Alex before we do … we're not getting him back."_

* * *

0o0o0o

Chapter 26

**Never Forgive, Never Forget**

"Hello?"

"Lynx – hi."

"Oh, hello, Wolf."

"What are you doing right now?"

"Losing at poker."

"Right. Well, it's happening tonight."

"It?"

"The rescue. It's happening tonight. Actually… it's happening _now."_

"… Christ. Thanks for the warning. Where are you?"

"Just pulling into the hotel. Get your men together and come to 211. Armed."

"Right. Right. Give us ten."

0o0o0o

"Wolf? What are you…"

Wolf didn't respond, having immediately moved toward the duffle holding the artillery after bursting into the room without warning. He was pulling things out very fast, his serious face fixed with a certain concentration that Fox recognized from many missions passed. The confidence he was displaying by the focus in his eyes was betrayed by the shaking in his hands, however. Fox stood up.

"Wolf–"

"Fox, it's Cub." Fox turned to look at Snake's tense form in the doorway. "We know where he is. Get ready."

Wolf was already changing into different clothes, slipping a dark shirt over his torso and pulling on a protective vest. Then he began to lock weapons to his waist – ammo to accompany the gun he was bringing, a few explosives, et cetera, et cetera. They weren't taking any chances.

"Eagle is… in the shower." Fox gazed evenly across at Wolf while the obvious question hung in the air.

Wolf grimaced. Eagle was still suffering the after-effects of the drug. He wasn't telling them much, but from his jumpiness, random reactions to the seemingly ordinary, and irreparable shaking, they guessed he was at least feeling awful and at most still hallucinating.

He finally shook his head. "J-unit will be over in five and Lana's waiting for us in the car. Get ready."

The two men followed Wolf's lead, changing and suiting up for the siege. When J-unit arrived at the room, it became difficult to distinguish between who was in which unit – they looked more like a Force Operations Task Force than two SAS units.

"Special _Air _Service, they said," Fox muttered earlier, "but when was the last time I saw a parachute? Ridiculous."

Lynx approached Wolf with his usual easy-going grin, but Wolf could tell he had to put effort into maintaining it. He wondered if always smiling was one of Lynx's tactics for leading.

"Top of the evening to you, Wolf," he greeted him amicably. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare tear gas canister, would you? We seem to be one short."

Wolf nodded, turning to search the duffle. Tiger, looking like a toy in his full standardized uniform and equipment, locked his large blue eyes onto Fox curiously.

"Where is Eagle?"

Fox didn't respond. It was Shark who broke the quiet pause, crossing his arms with a grunt of discontent.

"So where are we going to rescue this kid?"

Just then, the door to the bathroom opened, and an exhausted-looking Eagle emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist. He stared at the seven men, wide-eyed and seemingly unabashed by his state of undress.

"You – you found him?"

Wolf's movements slowed. Snake was the one to reply, sounding soft and hesitant. "… Yeah, mate. How're you feeling?"

"Fine," he replied crisply, wincing when he thought of Alex's many "fine"s throughout the first rescue. It was history repeating itself, but he couldn't help it – he wanted to go. He wanted to help his team.

Behind Wolf, the wall split open and an inky black substance began to seep out from the cracks forming in the drywall. Eagle swallowed, unable to not at least glance at the disturbance. Snake followed his gaze to the blank wall, turning back and regarding Eagle critically. It was obvious that his teammate was seeing something nobody else could see.

Wolf interjected from where he was rifling through grenades, stating bluntly, "You're not okay and you shouldn't come."

"I want to help," Eagle snapped.

"You can't – not tonight."

"Wolf – _I have to go!"_

J-unit watched the exchange in silence. While Shark and Tiger seemed visibly appalled by the direct disobeying of the team leader's wishes, Hawk and Lynx remained stonily observant.

Wolf spun around, and Eagle's resolve wavered at the steeliness in Wolf's eyes. When he spoke, his voice was low and dangerous. "I am _ordering you_ to stay here."

Eagle continued to hold his gaze, unwilling to back down quite yet. His insistent response came out more uncertain than confident. "This isn't a real mission."

"_EAGLE!"_

Wolf's sudden shout caught everyone off guard, and the silence following it rang even louder. Eagle looked down, shuffling his feet.

"I can't believe you're arguing with me on this. Didn't we learn _anything_ from that warehouse? When _Cub_ wasn't okay, we let him come anyway – and _look what happened! _Jesus Christ, _why_ would you try to put any of us through that again? Why would you even _consider_ it?"

None of them faced Wolf's _true_ anger often. In the most humiliating show of weakness Eagle had even displayed, his eyes began to grow glassy with tears. He was just so _frustrated._ Even worse, he knew Wolf was right. But at that moment, Wolf wasn't the strong, infallible team leader he'd known and looked up to all his career – he was the man who'd failed, who couldn't be _trusted _on his own anymore.

Desperate to fend off the growing feeling of hopelessness, Eagle allowed his anger to dominate. "Fuck off, Wolf! This isn't really about me!"

"You _made_ it about you when you _willingly swallowed poison! _You can't come – you're a liability now!_"_

Eagle's eyes widened. His thoughts flashed back to a week ago, when Wolf and Alex were engaged in a screaming match on the way to the warehouse. _"If you come with us, you'll be a liability,"_ Wolf had said, _"and if you can't protect yourself, we'll be forced to do it for you. Do you really believe we'll have enough time to get Sabina and the others out of there safely if we're busy doing that? Huh? Do you?"_

It hurt to know those same words could be applied to him now. Eagle ground his teeth.

"That's – _I'm not useless–!"_

"Eagle, please!" Fox shouted.

Eagle's hands came up to cover his face, pressing his fingers into his eyes in order to erase any trace of tears before they were detected. Fox grabbed his wrist and yanked it down, startling the man. He spoke quietly and urgently – exactly how Eagle needed to be spoken to after battling Wolf's wrath. There was only really one person in K-unit that could properly counter _that_, and that person was not present.

"Look, I – I know how you must be feeling right now. And I know you aren't exactly Wolf's biggest fan at the moment… especially since you two never _really_ got to apologize to one another after what happened at the warehouse. But you're not thinking clearly. You need to remember that Wolf didn't fail us _once_ in the three years we fought under him until then. You need to remember that he's our leader and our friend."

Eagle bit his lip, stubbornly looking away even while the first tear rolled down his cheek.

"And you need to remember that he went through _hell _for what happened to Alex. _We all did_. There's no taking chances anymore, Eagle."

Eagle scrubbed away the tears with the back of his hand.

"You're gonna have to sit this one out."

"… Okay," he whispered after a moment. Fox smiled softly, patting him on the back.

"Are they dating?" Shark muttered to Lynx. Eagle and Fox sprung away from each other, reddening and instantly turning their backs on each other. Tiger had to muffle his laughter while Snake grinned.

"Jeez, what a couple of women."

With that, the tension was defused.

"Eleven-seventeen Baldwin Road," Wolf grunted. "Eagle, we'll keep you informed."

Eagle hesitantly nodded, fixing Wolf with a determined look. As the men began to push into the hallway, Eagle approached their leader carefully. He stopped a foot away, gazing at him evenly. Then he raised a hand and placed it on his shoulder.

"Alex is going to ask where I am when you guys catch up with him," he muttered. "Make sure to tell him I'm there in spirit."

Wolf huffed out a laugh, pushing the hand off his shoulder and turning toward the door. "Dramatic as always… Hold down the fort, Eagle. And don't spend too much on pay-per-view porn."

Eagle grinned widely. "I can't make that promise."

As Tiger passed through the door, he was stopped by Eagle's hand on his shoulder. Glancing up with his large blue eyes, he was met with the confident, encouraging gaze of K-unit's technician.

"Knock 'em dead, Tiger."

Tiger's entire chest swelled.

"T-thanks!"

* * *

0o0o0o

When the door to Alex's room opened, he was startled by how little space there was in the hallway – boxes took of most of the room in the narrow area, and there was only one other door across from him before the stairs became the final remaining option for migration.

And it was the stairs that they took. Alex was pulled unnecessarily hard on the first step and predictably tripped due to the small chain connecting his legs at the ankles, but he managed to catch himself by maneuvering his body to hit the wall instead, pushing off of it and swinging dangerously close to the face of one of his guards along the way, startling the man.

"Watch it," he snapped, and Alex shot him a glare.

"Why aren't I blindfolded?" he demanded, gazing ahead of him at the leader of the operation. He was a tall, medium-built man in his late forties or early fifties, with graying black hair and square glasses. His nose was long and slightly hooked, giving him the look of an intellectual, and when he opened his mouth, Alex was treated to a mouthful of gold and silver replicates – the result of an inconsolable sweet tooth and inconsistent habits.

"Because you are not coming back here. It doesn't matter what you see now, Alex, my boy."

"I am not _your boy_," Alex informed him in a snap, "you lonely old creep. What's happening? Where are you taking me?"

"You are leaving our loving care tonight, Alex, and returning back where you belong. Isn't that wonderful?"

Alex's heart began to beat faster in his chest. Did that mean MI6 had negotiated for his release after all? Fear and relief flooded him at the prospect of going home, as well as some other unknown emotion. He felt very tired all of a sudden.

"Where I belong…" he whispered, biting his lip. Who was waiting for him out there? K-unit? Mrs. Jones? Alan Blunt? Or was it some kind of trick? Was this man simply taunting him with real plans to execute him at a different location? His mind was too fuzzy and scattered to properly formulate an accurate prediction – he was exhausted and in pain and he hadn't eaten much more than bread and the other scraps they'd forced him to swallow since he arrived there.

"Yes, Alex," the aging man confirmed. Alex's head snapped up.

"Are you Dr. Gallagher?"

He slowed to a stop, and the guards did as well, allowing Alex and him to lock eyes. Gray met with brown and then the man was smirking. "Yes. How did you know that?"

"The walls aren't that thick. Guards talk to each other," he supplied curtly. His breathing was louder than he could control, and his whole body felt sluggish. He could barely recall what it was like to feel untouchable, invincible, as he'd often pictured himself at school and on missions.

One of the men guiding Alex coughed uncomfortably. Alex's lips quirked up into a small, dark grin. Dr. Gallagher regarded him coldly, despite the seemingly pleasant look on his face. "Well done, Alex."

"I get that a lot."

He was kicked back into motion, forcing him to catch himself before smashing his nose into another stair. There was another door at the top, and then the group was entering in behind the darkened reception desk of a pharmacy. Alex looked around, struggling to memorize the exits and possible escape roots in the same way that was normally instant for him. His arm was being jarred a lot by the walking, and he found himself distracted by that pain for the first time in at least a few days.

He glanced out the windows and quickly regretted it. Disfigured faces greeted him in the shadows, inky hands coming up to stroke the glass of the window. He set his jaw, stubbornly looking straight ahead of him. It was only a hallucination.

_Alex._

He spun around, startling his guards with the sudden movement. Somebody had whispered his…

_Shit. I am so screwed. I am more screwed than I have ever been._ He was seeing and hearing things. This made the prospect of escaping seem very, very difficult. The blend of fantasy and reality was a dangerous one for someone in such a tight spot – one that required split-second thinking and no hesitation. He was already…

_How are you supposed to escape? _ Not-Wolf's voice drifted into his mind. _You're weak. You're injured. You're sleep-deprived. You're half-starved. You're hallucinating. And you're completely on your own._

He narrowed his eyes. _No. MI6 is coming for me. That's got to be what this is about._

_But… what if they're not?_

Not-Wolf wasn't wrong – he couldn't take that chance. Slowing down, he slid his foot in the beginnings of a fight stance – only to feel something cold and hard instantly press up against his temple. Gallagher had pulled a gun on him. "I know what you're thinking."

"You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you?" Alex grindingly replied, refusing to look at the man.

"You're thinking it's now or never. You're going to try and escape."

"Sorry to be so predictable. I'm not usually like this, really."

"Oh, there isn't a doubt in my mind that you're usually like this, Alex Rider. Hence the many precautions we have set up in order to stop you."

Alex's lips twitched in an angry grimace. They'd finally stopped underestimating him, but contrary to what he'd imagined in the past, it didn't feel like a victory. It felt more like his enemy's checkmate. Frustrated, he muttered, "The gun is really unnecessary."

"Like hell it is," one of the guards growled. He was pushed out the door a second later, and immediately one of the guards slammed a fist into Alex's stomach, winding him and sending him pitching forward. He was caught and thrown into the backseat of the car waiting for them, but Alex could hardly focus on his whereabouts – he was too busy trying to fight the black blotting of his vision from spreading to his consciousness.

He was out of energy. It was up to everyone else now.

* * *

0o0o0o

"Wolf, slow down!"

Four identical streaks of tar branded themselves into the asphalt as the minivan carrying all eight of them screeched around a corner, gunning it down the road toward Baldwin. A GPS was nestled just beneath the radio, courtesy of Sanders and Kobayashi.

… That is to say, K-unit stole it. After Snake had wondered out loud why two MI6 spies would be given an eight-person minivan as a vehicle of all things, Fox's eyes had lit up in understanding. He'd grinned upon Snake's inquiry, quoting Mrs. Jones' message from a few nights earlier: _"Use everything in your realm as a valuable resource."_

"Everything they say is in code," Snake whispered, his mouth parted in an awed 'o'. Shark and Tiger exchanged looks.

"So what, it was our _destiny_ to steal this mom van?" Shark asked sarcastically, his eyes reflecting doubt. Fox smirked.

"Basically."

Lana had merely shook her head in response to their antics, murmuring quietly to herself, "_'You spies are all the same'_, huh?"

Another last-minute turn brought Hawk's face in sharp contact with the window, slamming his forehead against the tempered glass. Leaning back and massaging his head uncomfortably, he muttered, "ouch." Tiger, spying his teammate's pain, flared up in anger.

"Some warning would be nice before you try something like that again!"

Wolf found it difficult to take the tiny man seriously when he had such a painfully high voice. He sounded like a mouse. Tiger's words were promptly ignored.

Snake leaned forward so he was between the passenger and driver's seats, staring pointedly at their leader. "We kind of have to arrive there in one piece to save Alex, Wolf."

"We're almost there," Wolf insisted gruffly.

"You are going more than twice the speed limit," Lana pointed out curtly. Another turn resulted in Snake's head bashing into the cup holders. Lynx leaned forward so his head hovered just above Snake's fallen one.

"Are we going to crash?" he asked in perfect curiosity, looking gleefully at Wolf. Wolf spared him a short glance.

"No."

"That would be ridiculous. Twice in two rescues?" Fox commented, wrinkling his nose.

"You guys crashed on the way to your _last_ rescue mission and you're _still_ driving like this?" Tiger exclaimed shrilly. "Jesus, _would you please slow down? _I – you almost hit that cat!_"_

"It saw me. It ran out of the way," Wolf defended.

"It'll probably never go within miles of a road again for the rest of its life!"

"That's probably safer for the cat, then."

"_Wolf_," Snake interjected sternly, glaring at the man from where he was picking himself up. "Also, for the record, _we_ did not crash; we were crashed _into."_

"Oh, _pardon me_," Shark snarled. "Wonder how that happened? Certainly it wasn't because of the insane driver running _all the red lights?"_

"Actually, it was because of the insane _terrorists_ after our teenage charge," Wolf snapped, the bones in his right foot aching from pressing down so hard and continuously on the pedal. He engaged the handbrake and pulled another impressive turn. Right when Snake had regained his composure, he was thrown sideways into Shark's lap. Lana took a similar fall onto Wolf, who glanced down and smiled almost imperceptibly. Lana narrowed her eyes at him, pushing herself back up off Wolf's arm and into her seat.

They were two streets away from Baldwin, and Wolf was finally convinced to slow down if only to keep their cover from being blown. As the map showed them approaching their destination, Fox and Lana both noticed Wolf's breathing quicken and hitch.

"Last block," Snake alerted the rest of the van. Damask Drive was little more than a vague memory. There – the green street sign neared quickly, reading in bold, white letters:** "**BALDWIN".

Baldwin Road was nestled comfortably in a larger heritage part of Carlisle – the buildings were startling old but kept in quite nice condition for their age, and the streets were relatively clean as well as mostly empty. There was little late-night activity on Thursdays anyway, and Baldwin did not seem to house many bars or restaurants. In fact, it felt almost… peaceful.

Wolf's eyes roamed over the building numbers as they cruised slowly and quietly down the road. 1023, 1029, 1035–

"What's that car doing?"

Down the street, a single car could be seen pulling in front of a pharmacy. Rather than simply parking and exiting the vehicle, however, the driver showed no signs of leaving, and the dark blue automobile instead sat idling.

Almost immediately the doors to the pharmacy were pushed open from the inside, and five people exited the building simultaneously. Lana's eyes widened at the same time Wolf's mouth went dry.

Illuminated by the single streetlight situated above the pharmacy was a shock of messy golden hair.

Fox's hand bolted out to slam the car into park at the very same moment that Wolf's foot stomped down on the gas. The car made an uncomfortable whirring noise before Wolf let up and spun around in his chair, glaring at Fox.

"He's there! That's him! Why did you–"

"Just _slow down a minute, _Wolf! Christ, if we rush over there all engine roaring and guns blazing, they're just gonna kill him! We've got to be strategic about this!"

"How else are we supposed to–"

"Look!" Shark broke in, pointing over to the car. Both men froze in their bickering the observe Alex take a sucker punch to the gut before being tossed into the backseat of the car. It had begun backing out before neither Fox nor Wolf had time to make a move, and just as the panic of losing their chance kicked in, Lana Knight made her move.

What she suddenly produced looked like a small pistol. Without consulting any of the car's other occupants, she reached out the window and fired – a barely audible _clang_ could be heard, and the car holding Alex did stop for a second, but other than that, it didn't do much. She retracted her arm and placed the pistol in the glovebox, turning to face their astonished faces.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Wolf demanded furiously. "Did you_ seriously_ just take a shot at–"

_Blip._

Wolf's eyes flickered over to the map on their dashboard, which now showed two dots instead of the previous one. The red indicator of their location was still in the same place, but now a blue one had joined it a few inches up on the screen. Wolf gaped at it.

"And just where did you pick up _that _little thing?" Lynx asked breathlessly. Lana's icy blue gaze flickered back to the glovebox, pointing out with a shrug,

"Exactly where I found it."

"How did you…"

Lana smiled, stretching languidly. "We had best wait until they're out of sight before we begin following."

Wolf continued to stare at her even while Fox reached forward to slap the woman a high-five. "How come I didn't think of that?" he said delightedly. "The old tracker-gun-in-the-glove-box trick!"

"That's a thing…?" Tiger whispered to Hawk, wide-eyed. Hawk merely shook his head.

"Intelligence is certainly a mystery."

"Just what I'd expect to hear from someone like you, pretty boy," Shark snickered. Hawk shot him a glare, but even with accompanying frown it still looked more like a smolder. Shark mock-swooned, pretending to fan himself.

Wolf shoved the gear shift back into drive before taking off at a much more normal pace, calmly cruising down Baldwin. As soon as they were passing the pharmacy, however, Lana placed a hand on Wolf's shoulder.

"Wait."

Snake's eyes narrowed at the familiar touch – but more so at the lack of a reaction to it. Wolf didn't seem surprised at her casualness.

"We need to go in there."

Wolf frowned at her. "We don't have time for that!"

"It'll only take a minute. Your teammate _drank _the only sample of the mystery substance we had, _remember?_ This is our only chance! They'll have the place cleared out by the time we next get an opportunity to raid it."

Wolf continued to face her with silent disapproval. She smacked him on the arm, continuing in an insistent, fast-paced whisper,

"Look, your teammates are going to need further medical attention, and if anything can be developed _for_ this drug, it'll have to be developed _from_ it. I'll be two minutes, tops."

"I'll come with you."

"I hardly need your protection."

"That's not why I'm going."

Lana's hostile expression morphed into one of surprise, and eventually, respect. "_Oh."_

Snake and Fox both shoved their heads between the two seats, forcing Lana and Wolf's faces apart. "I want to go too," they both said simultaneously.

"You're both staying _here,_" Wolf ordered. "The less people that go, the better. You heard the woman, we'll be two minutes _tops."_

* * *

0o0o0o

"_Rider! _I've _missed _you."

Alex's head was spinning from the blow to his stomach, but his mind was still able to register the irritatingly stuffy voice of Flint even before he felt the man's hand slither up his arm. Jerking it away, Alex sat up and twisted so that his back was to the car door. Flint sat comfortably, balancing a gun between his fingertips.

"You're about to miss me a whole lot more," Alex hissed. "I'm going back."

"Back?" Flint repeated, surprised by the word. Alex's stomach dropped. If Flint didn't know what he was talking about, then chances were, neither did Alex. His second guess had been right – it was most likely some kind of sick joke to get his hopes up just so they could crush them later. Flint barked out a laugh.

"I didn't know you felt that way about it," he mused. Alex's eyebrows slid together in confusion.

"Of course," he hedged, trying not to hesitate with his answers. "It's where I belong, after all."

Flint grinned before letting out a rough-sounding cough. Alex had identified him as a chain-smoker a long time ago. "Don't tell me you were some kind of _triple_ spy…"

_Triple spy… _Even in his current state, Alex's high-functioning brain was able to work that one out. He'd only been a double spy once in his life, and that was for…

Alex's eyes widened fractions. _Scorpia._

Panic seized him then, as hundreds of images and memories began to cross his mind at a million miles a minute. Scorpia – they were trading him off to Scorpia. For Alex Rider, that was_ literally_ a fate_ worse than death._

While Alex managed not to _physically_ react to this horrific realization – evading embarrassments in the form of choking on his own fear or falling into a full-blown anxiety-attack – his eyes betrayed him, and he was forced to watch a brutal smile overcome Flint's face.

"Now he gets it," the ugly man chuckled. Alex sent him a fierce scowl.

"Your existence is pathetic," he accused, unable to find the energy to come up with something wittier. Flint's eyes widened.

"Oh, that _hurt_. But, still… not as much as you're gonna be hurting…"

"Shut up," Alex snapped, drawing his arms as close to his body as he could. "You're all so sure of yourselves, but really – giving me an opponent I've already beaten once? The underestimation never ends…"

His voice was too soft to be convincing, and he paused to collect himself mid-sentence a few times. Flint looked like he was holding back a laugh.

"See, Alex, the thing about old opponents…" Flint absently began picking at his nails while Alex looked on from where he was almost crouched in his corner of the vehicle.

"The thing about old opponents is that they've already learned your tricks. They don't need to over or underestimate you anymore. They've got you all figured out… do you see it yet? You're finished, Rider. And this time… it's for _good."_

* * *

0o0o0o

The pharmacy was not locked, but as soon as Wolf and Lana gained entrance, they were faced with their next problem: the fact that for all the world it seemed as though they were simply standing in an honest-to-God ordinary pharmacy. Lana placed a hand on her hip, looking around calculatingly. After a second she surged forward, having spotted the light switch, and flipped it on.

Bright fluorescent light beamed down at them from the high ceilings, illuminating even the beautiful Lana Knight in an unflattering way. She frowned, taking in the shelves of over-the-counter medication ruefully.

"So is this like a bookcase kind of deal?" Wolf asked. "Pull the right bottle of pills and a secret passage way opens up?"

Lana spared him an amused glance. "No, I think it's more of a break the glass and get behind the counter kind of deal. You know, to reach that door."

She pointed, and Wolf followed her gaze to spot the small white door behind the counter. Crossing the room in a few long strides, he unremorsefully smashed an elbow into glass, bracing himself for the alarm that never came. They'd probably forgotten to set it in their haste to smuggle Alex out the door.

Lana was by his side instantly, and then they were surrounded by pieces of tempered glass. Hauling themselves over the counter, Wolf's hand passed Lana's outstretched one in order to grasp the doorknob first.

He hesitated.

"Don't freeze up now," Lana muttered, sliding her hand over top of his and cranking the knob. She spared him a sideways look. "You wanted to do this, remember?"

The prompt had him shaking his head as he recalled exactly why he'd chosen to follow Lana into the pharmacy. Nodding resolutely, he pushed the door inward, opening into a stairway.

Cobwebs lined the speckled concrete walls of the narrow passage, and no decoration or recent paint jobs had been applied in order to make the journey down them any less creepy. Since there was no light switch at the top, the two were forced to descend into a pit of darkness. They hadn't let go of each other's hand.

Wolf's heart was pounding in his chest, but it wasn't because he was scared of the dark – it was because he could just imagine Alex trailing behind him in the situation, accusing the shadowy depths of being a metaphor and trying to reassure Wolf about his findings with bad jokes and poor attempts at wit. He swallowed his rising sense of dread and pushed on, reaching up with his free hand to try and locate some kind of switch or chord.

After brushing through several cobwebs, his hand eventually found a hanging string that cued a flickering hall light. Two plain light bulbs protruded from the ceiling, paving the way for a three room search. Lana moved into the first door on her right, but Wolf was drawn to the door waiting at the very end of the hall – the door still slightly ajar. It looked like it belonged on the inside of an alleyway. Dark streaks and dents marred the previously gray surfaces, while a small silver pale sat just left of the bottom, surrounded by a pool of water.

Striding forward, Wolf didn't notice his shaking until he was staring at his own hand curled around the edge of the door. A switch was built into the wall next to it, so he flipped it while simultaneously shoving the door open.

Wolf was not aware of the breath leaving his lungs.

The room was much larger than the hallway might have suggested, white-walled and spacious, but Wolf only had eyes for one thing: the lone chair perched in the middle of the room. And even then, it was not the chains and ropes that lay in disuse at its feet, or even the battered quality of the chair that he was looking at. It was the layer of blood that coated the floor beneath it.

Telltale trails worked their way down the legs of the chair as well as the back of it, painting it a grotesque two-tone of red-brown and white. Wolf took a large breath of air, stumbling back a step before turning to leave the way he'd come and accidentally running into Lana.

She gazed up at him evenly, projecting the cold emotionlessness that one had to expect from mission intelligence by this point even in such a situation. "One more room."

Wolf shut his eyes and took a deep breath, nodding wordlessly. Her eyes lingered on his shaking hands for a moment before eventually breaking off and focusing on the final door.

It was locked, so the two of them synchronized a powerful kick to the center and had it down in seconds. The hinges creaked in protest of their brutal dismemberment while Lana and Wolf felt around for a light switch or another string. Wolf was the one to hit it.

This room had apparently been updated more recently than the rest of the basement level, because the ceiling had been replaced with fluorescent panels. Plastic, portable tables had been moved inside for more space, and it was a good thing they had been, because the previous occupants had certainly needed it. All open surfaces were being used as either a homemade chemistry lab or covered in layers of papers. Vials of liquids in varying shades of color steamed or bubbled hazardously, and Lana looked onto the scene with a look of wonder on her face.

"The chemical notes here..." she whispered. "My God..."

It occurred to Wolf that had he himself been MI6, he might have tried to negotiate with Lana so that the British government might take a share of the obviously valuable information. But he wasn't, and frankly, Wolf did not care in the least about what happened to those notes. Theory was never his thing. He was only in it for the action.

While Lana was gathering the papers into the small book bag she carried by her side, Wolf examined the different drugs and poisons cooking on the Bunsen burners. It was hard to believe they'd been stupid enough to leave them all on unattended when there were so many flammable items floating around. Leaning down to gaze deep into the bottom of one, he noted its colorless, scentless state. It was just like the one Eagle had ingested.

"Here," Wolf mumbled, straightening and reaching for the vial. Lana slapped his hand away right at the last second, holding up her own gloved ones before plucking it out of its stand and placing a sealed cap over it. She then placed it in a found chemical suitcase from the corner along with a few other samples. Their whole affair in the room lasted about a minute, and when it was done, Lana glanced back at Wolf in order to prompt him into getting going.

She paused when she noticed the way he was staring out the door, a faraway look in his eyes. He seemed as though he was watching something play out that she could not see, something distant and terrible.

Lana concluded he looked like a lost puppy.

Her hand moved forward to wrap around his wrist, turning his body so that he was facing her. Then she slid her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. To her surprise, it only took him a second to return it, burying his face into the crook of her shoulder. She smiled softly, murmuring into his ear,

"I suppose you can't exactly show this side of yourself in front of your men, can you?"

She could feel him swallow against him. "Not exactly."

"Don't you wish you could be like that Lynx – always smiling for his team?"

"Smiling is overrated," Wolf growled, and that drew a genuine laugh from her throat, because of course _Wolf_ would say something like that. They released each other at the same time, with Wolf shooting her a grateful look before shuffling out the door. She followed quick on her toes, despite having both arms heavy with bottled mystery substances and pounds of papers.

They had just burst out the doors when the van pulled up next to them, Snake and Fox having taken the drivers and passenger's seats. As soon as Lana had climbed in and the car had taken off down the road, she withdrew something from the front of her tight coat. Shark looked at it suspiciously.

"What's that? … Wait, that looks like some kind of–"

An explosion sounded just behind them, ending the historical building's life and destroying every last ounce of evidence that Lana hadn't taken herself. All occupants of the back craned their necks around to watch the bright red flames lick upwards as they swallowed the bricks like they were little more than paper boxes.

"Was – _was that really necessary?" _Tiger sputtered, fretting. "That was a pharmacy! In a heritage building, no less!"

"Silence," Lana said simply without looking at him. Tiger inflated with irritation.

"Just because you're CIA, you think you can push everyone around…" he muttered to himself, grumbling and turning away from her. A small smile crossed her face.

"Why yes, that _is_ what I think."

"You've got your evidence," Lynx pointed out reasonably from his spot to her left, "why are you still tagging along with us?"

"Because that wasn't my real mission," she told him, although she did not offer any further clarification on the subject. Wolf briefly felt bad for J-unit – it was their first mission and they were being pushed around by a foreign intelligence agent and a separate, far more fucked-up unit all for the sake of an MI6 spy that they'd never even met before. It couldn't be all that fun.

"We're closing in on the location. Their car stopped a minute ago."

Wolf leaned forward so he was looking at the GPS screen. "You're going to have to pull around the east end. We can't afford to be seen just yet."

Snake shot him a sideways look, grinning crookedly. "Does this mean you've got a plan, Wolfman?"

Wolf just gazed straight ahead through the windshield, where he was able to make out the scene of about six cars all parked in a circle for an instant before the opening passed and they were faced with the redbrick walls of the apartment buildings surrounding them.

"I've always got a plan, Snake."

Snake's smile faded.

He'd heard that somewhere before.

* * *

0o0o0o

When Alex was shoved out the door of the car by Flint, it was into the blinding light of a brightly-lit parking lot directly adjacent to what looked to be the beginnings of a forest. Straightening and looking around, he noticed they were not alone – not even close. Five other cars were in the picture, creating an almost-circle in which he was almost certain he would be standing in the center of any minute now.

Alex couldn't help looking up into the sky and sending a silent prayer that MI6 would somehow get him out of this mess despite what Flint had told him. His mind even wandered to K-unit, but he knew that was impossible – MI6 wouldn't have told them anything. They were most likely still back in Chelsea, mourning his death.

Or perhaps they were already done mourning and had gone back to watching sports on Wolf's huge TV or drinking beer while practicing their shooting in the backyard. He briefly closed his eyes, willing his situation to improve.

"Alex Rider…"

A tall, dark-haired man strode forward, his accent and foreign looks giving away his heritage right off the bat. Yugoslavian, Alex concluded. Most likely very high up in Scorpia if he was the first to speak.

"Kurst," Gallagher greeted, and although he sounded amicable enough, Alex could hear the underlying dread in his voice. Inspecting him out of the corner of his eye, Alex could tell right off the bat that the man was very nervous about the next order of events. Alex couldn't exactly blame him – Scorpia was terrifying in any situation. Even when you were on their side.

Kurst did not so much as glance at Gallagher, instead choosing to keep his falcon-like eyes trained carefully on Alex's golden-bleached brown ones. He met the terrorist's gaze unflinchingly, despite the fact that his legs felt like jelly and all of his injuries were aching from movement. Behind Kurst, the shadows appeared to be shifting and moving, and Alex thought he saw familiar faces in the window of a car driving past a block away, but he knew better: the drug's effects had yet to disappear yet.

As if on cue, a very high-pitched noise erupted in Alex's ears, and his face took on a pinched look. By the lack of reaction from anyone else in the area, he knew he was the only one hearing it. Kurst continued to speak, although Alex couldn't hear him – he had to read the man's lips until the noise eventually disappeared, leaving him even more drained.

"I don't believe I was addressing you," Kurst's lips had read, and Gallagher had predictably recoiled and apologized.

"Step forward," was the next thing the man said. Alex placed one foot ahead of the other and instantly collapsed, thrown to his hands and knees feet before his largest threat.

"Feeling a little weak?" the man taunted. Alex grimaced.

"Well, I have just been tortured for three days," he shot back in little over a whisper. This was humiliating. He just wanted to get this whole exchange over with already.

Kurst nodded without an ounce of humor present on his face. "You will not enjoy what we have in store for you, Alex Rider."

"You don't say," he breathed, and received a swift kick to the ribcage. That was when it really hit him that things were about to get a lot worse. And things hadn't exactly been peachy before. Shakily drawing himself back up onto his hands and knees again, he tried to gather the strength to keep fighting, keep thinking of ways he might escape his fate, but he was slipping. He was sleep-deprived, injured, physically and mentally _drained_ and for all it seemed, nobody was coming to help him. He was on his own against his most powerful enemy in his weakest state and it was the _fucking_ eleventh hour.

Kurst reached down in order to drag the boy to his feet, but before he could so much as curl his fingers into Alex's shirt he was distracted by Gallagher's step forward.

"I believe you owe us something," he said, and it was the most confident Alex had seen him before Kurst's powerful presence. Kurst stared long and hard at the man, as though he expected him to back down from his expectations of payment with just a mere glare. Gallagher held his ground.

After a moment Kurst straightened, raising an eyebrow at the doctor. "Yes," he conceded quietly. "I suppose we _do_ owe you _something._"

0o0o0o

* * *

"That's our cue," Wolf mumbled. "_Go_."

* * *

0o0o0o

A small clinking brought all three men's attentions to the ground, where a small, silver, cylindrical object had landed. Before anybody could register its threat it was too late, and the parking lot was filled with the blinding white light of a stun grenade.

Gallagher stumbled back, crying out, while Kurst screamed, "Fire!"

Gunshot erupted from the north end of the lot, followed quickly by shouts and screams. Alex's entire weight shifted as he felt himself torn out of the way of the attack by somebody's grip, and even while trying to register who might have grabbed him, he was still stuck on the first question: who threw the stun grenade?

He opened his eyes and found everything still bleached, with the most minute sketches of shadows just beginning to fill in the first cracks in his vision. Not a second later came the second distraction: a smoke bomb. Coughing fits erupted in a full radius of Alex, alerting him that he was still in the middle of the parking lot.

Somebody had locked an arm around his waist. Scrambling against whoever had grabbed him, Alex whipped one arm back and felt it collide with something hard. The person holding him immediately let go and Alex leaped to his feet only to instantly feel another unbreakable grip close around his arms in a deathtrap of a hug. His injured arm throbbed at the pressure, but he forced himself to swallow the feeling, knowing that to shout out now would reveal his location to all enemies present.

Before he could so much as whisper a threat, however, the hot breath of his captor was hissing into his ear, "Don't move; I'm here to help."

_So was Ash_, Alex thought to himself, not recognizing the voice. _So were plenty of lying terrorists out to mount my head on a stick. Who the hell are you?_

Another gunshot rang out into the parking lot, inspiring more varying bangs throughout the area. Despite his misgivings, Alex allowed himself to be manhandled towards the easternmost part of the lot without much of a fuss, if only because he was _so Goddamned tired. _His legs stumbled awkwardly one after another like a newborn fawn taking its first stroll through the woods.

The smoke was clearing and Alex was just able to make out the light skin and pale freckles of his so-calledsavior's arms. A tree loomed past them and Alex realized that they'd exited out past the parking lot and into the woods just beyond it. Being in the more foresty area reminded him of, of all places, Brecon Beacons, but from there his mind was brought to K-unit and that was a dead end.

The two of them collapsed behind a bush, and Alex's companion let go of him without realizing that suddenly being without the support was going to send Alex straight to his knees. Before Alex could even begin to shakily pick himself up again, however, a face of concern appeared inches away from his own.

"Are you okay to move on your own? God, you're a right mess!"

Even though this man was technically helping him, Alex couldn't help but direct a glare across at him for the comment. "I would come back with _'you should see the other guy'_, but unfortunately, I was just tortured."

The easy-going man sobered a little at his dry words, nodding. "So I understand. It's a pleasure to meet you, Agent Rider."

"Oh, God, please don't call me that…"

"Alex, then?"

Alex gazed into the man's speckled brown eyes, asking abruptly, "Are you SAS?"

His rescuer blinked, startled at the question. "Uh, yes. Lynx of J-unit."

"Call me Cub."

A very wide smile stretched over Lynx's face at this, and he gave another respectful nod. "Cub it is. Make sure you let K-unit know I have permission to call you that, or I'll be looking at a whole lot of pointy things aimed in my direction."

Alex's wandering stare snapped up instantly at the mention of K-unit. He'd been wanting to believe it this whole time, that K-unit had found him, but it just felt too hopeful, too naive, too _good_ a turn for his situation to take that he couldn't quite convince himself of the possibility. "They – K-unit's here?"

Lynx was beaming at the expression of elation on Alex's face. Knowing K-unit and hearing them speak of the boy was one thing, but meeting the enigma himself was a whole other. There were entire legions of forces behind that boy's gaze.

"'Course, mate. What, you didn't_ really_ think they'd leave you, didja?"

Alex let out a shallow breath of air, the crouch he'd fallen into putting a heavy strain on his battered body. He wanted to fall back onto his back and just drift off, but they were so close, and knowing K-unit was nearby gave him a whole new burst of strength. He raked a hand caked in dry blood through his dirty hair, hitting multiple snags along the way. "I – no. I'm just relieved, anyway."

"I can tell," Lynx grinned. "But enough of this chatter, because–"

The bushes behind Lynx were shoved back and at the same moment Alex's face was spattered with blood. Lynx immediately spun around and aimed a sharp kick at the shin of the man who'd appeared behind him, slamming a hand down against his own neck at the same time. Before either man could make another move Alex had already hijacked a gun from Lynx's holster and planted a bullet in his attacker's head. Lynx collapsed onto his side, his entire face pinched with pain.

Alex was by his side in an instant, his unguided hands flickering randomly over the man's neck as he tried to figure out what he should do. "Lynx, oh, shit, can you speak?"

"He just… grazed me…"

"_He – _Christ, he shot you in the neck! I–"

Wordlessly, Alex pushed Lynx's head into the dirt, jumping to his feet at the exact second two men shoved their way behind the bush. Alex held his horror-movie hands up without so much as glancing down at the unmoving Lynx.

The two Scorpia men looked terrified out of their minds as they grabbed Alex's shirt and dragged him forward, jamming the barrel of a gun against his temple wordlessly. The entire forest had become a battleground and holding Alex meant you were both holding the prize as well as turning yourself into a target. Alex stumbled forward by direction of their shoves, his vision just beginning to double. The trees were growing and swirling before his eyes.

Black boots crunched their way through the undergrowth and into his field of vision, and Alex trailed his eyes up to meet those of Flint. The meaty man looked more sadistic than ever, and he held a small pistol in his hand. He aimed it at Alex's foot.

"Scorpia wants you alive, but to be perfectly honest, the condition you were to be delivered in was never specified."

* * *

0o0o0o

Wolf coughed, retreating towards the barely-visible silhouettes of trees lying just beyond the veil of smoke that kept him covered. There was a single bullet shot, but other than that, nobody wanted to shoot in fear of blindly hurting their own, or placing a target on themselves. By the time the smoke was clear, only two bodies remained in the parking lot, prone and still beneath the streetlights. Wolf breathed a sigh of relief that neither of them were on his side. Everyone else had migrated into the forest adjacent to it in order to initiate the Alex-hunt that was to come.

Wolf exhaled slowly from where he was concealed on his stomach at the base of a fallen tree. The rotting wood was largely covered in wet moss, coating Wolf's hands in moisture and cooling his skin. His heart was pounding, sending a throbbing sensation to the tips of all ten fingers as he waited for silence to encompass the area. He wasn't sure where K-unit was... actually, he wasn't sure where _anyone_ was. All he knew was that finally _–_ _finally... _K-unit had the upper hand.

These were the exact kind of situations they were trained for.

Now it was the last game in the series, with the highest stakes of them all –they were fightingnot just Alex, but _all _of them. And it was, undeniably, a life-or-death situation.

Wolf internally cursed.

Slowly, warily, Wolf raised his body so that he could see just over the top of his hiding spot. There, not ten feet away from him, were two Scorpia men. They looked lost and unsure, cradling their guns close to their chests. Wolf wanted to scoff. They weren't even smart enough to stand back-to-back – sitting ducks.

As quietly as he could, Wolf lifted his arm, finger ready on the trigger. He realized that in the thundering silence that had prevailed over the woods, flicking off the safety would reveal him instantly. Swallowing, Wolf steeled himself against the task. Readying his hand on the surface of the tree trunk, he memorized the two men's locations before flicking off the safety, ducking his head, and firing two shots into the undergrowth. A single bullet had whizzed an inch past his hand – exactly where his head would have been if he hadn't ducked – but before any follow-ups could be made on Scorpia's part, the two men were horizontal. Wolf allowed himself to breathe again. _Food for the soil now. At least they're finally doing something __useful with themselves._

There were eight Scorpia men that Wolf knew of, as well as five of Alex's original kidnappers. That made for a total of thirteen adversaries against seven able-bodied men plus Alex. Two were already dead in the parking lot, and Wolf had taken out just then, reducing the number to nine. Picking himself up into a crouch, Wolf stealthily crawled along the forest floor, ensuring that he was hidden from as many higher angles as possible. He spotted a third man and shot him down undetected. The man dropped without so much as a twitch, giving Wolf the impression that he was playing no more than a video game. He swallowed the bile that rose up in his throat at that thought.

_Eight more to go, _his resolve whispered. _Then we'll have him back._

Wolf didn't know how optimistic he was being.

* * *

0o0o0o

They'd snuck up on him. He hadn't even gotten a chance to retaliate before his gun was taken and a hard boot slammed down onto his back, winding him and laying flat along the forest floor."Heh, look at this. I wasn't aware the SAS were sending in _children _now."

Tiger sucked in a breath against the pressure exerted on his ribcage. He knew these two men were from Scorpia. One half of his face was mashed into the dirt; the other peered up at the two burly men. One was tall and overweight. The other appeared to be on steroids.

Steroids placed his own boot on Tiger's head, slowly easing more and more of his weight onto the man's skull. Gritting his teeth, Tiger struggled and thrashed, until the boot slipped off onto the ground next to it and Tiger clamped onto the man's ankle with his teeth. Steroids howled, stumbling back a foot and distracting the other one for long enough to allow Tiger time to roll over and regain his fighting stance. Steroids barreled forward in fury, but Tiger was ready for him. He'd been trained to death in ways to manipulate another's superior size and strength to work against them, and oh, it was _so satisfying _to finally use it.

He didn't have a gun, so he turned and swiped a large rock off the ground before Tall And Overweight could reach him. Then he was hurling it at the man's head. It connected and sent him clean to the ground, leaving Tiger panting on his feet above the fallen bodies of two much larger assailants. Adrenaline and satisfaction were pumping through his veins, and he couldn't help but execute a very small victory dance. In his head, Eagle's voice rang out loudly: "knock 'em dead, Tiger."

_Perhaps I took him a little too literally._

As soon as he had recollected his gun, an enemy came running from around the forest bend. Tiger effortlessly lifted his aim and shot the man in the leg, throwing him to the ground. Approaching quickly, he was able to identify the runner as Dr. Warley.

"You're..." Tiger mumbled as he approached the struggling man, whose gun had skidded six feet away from him when he fell. "You're one of the men that helped develop the drug!"

He recognized the man's face from the files K-unit had shared with them over breakfast. Warley turned toward Tiger as though he was poised to begin begging, but upon taking in Tiger's appearance, he scowled. Tiger frowned. It wasn't _that _humiliating to beg for your life to someone like him, was it?

"You bastard!" the man spat instead. "You shot me!"

"Save it," Tiger hissed, kneeling next to the men and placing his gen against his temple. Warley stilled. "The only thing you should be opening your ugly mouth for is to tell me the reason you guys developed that Goddamned drug."

Warley slowly smiled. "Don't tell me you've become _personally _acquainted with it already–"

Tiger ground the gun into the man's temple, feeling uncharacteristically badass. "You can wipe that slimy smile right off your face, unless you need me to do it for you."

Tiger watched as Warley sobered, although he still looked exceptionally angry. "You wouldn't shoot me," the flat-faced man accused with a snarl. "You're still wet behind the ears. You're a coward."

He aimed to spit on Tiger's shoe, fortunately missing. Tiger frowned down at him. "We all make our first kill eventually. It certainly makes it easier to accept with you antagonizing me like this."

Secretly, Tiger was totally rattled. He was currently channeling Lynx's patience, Shark's hard-ass attitude, and Eagle's boldness, because no matter how badly Tiger wanted the man dead for his crimes, he didn't want to kill him. He didn't want to kill anyone if it could be avoided, and without any direct orders or fatal split-second decisions, it was unlikely he ever would. Tiger was no assassin - or spy, for that matter. It wasn't in his blood to run around killing anybody who provoked him.

"Or," Tiger suggested, narrowing his pretty blue eyes, "I could always leave you in a _lot_ of pain."

Warley huffed out a short, breathy laugh. "You must think I'll believe anything. You don't have it in you. I can't even decide if you're a boy or a girl yet–"

"UGH!" Tiger slammed the back of his gun into Warley's lower ribcage with as much force as he could muster, easily displacing the bone. Warley cried out against the feeling.

"You're right!" Tiger wailed. "I _don't want _to hurt you! But I _will!_ So just tell _what_ that drug was for and we can both quit all this dancing around!"

"Yes, you're definitely new," Warley ground out, still sounding faintly amused. Tiger was done being toyed with. He reached back in order to grasp Warley's ankle, yanking it toward him and straining the muscle around the man's bullet wound. He released another shriek of protest. Tiger placed the barrel of the gun at the base of the man's foot, sending him a serious look.

"_What was it for?"_

Warley was panting. "You won't–"

Tiger flicked off the safety, thoroughly fed up with the man's taunts. He was prepared to deliver, and Warley finally seemed to sense this. "What do you think you have left to gain? All you're doing is setting yourself up to lose more than you will if you'd just _cooperate! _Look at yourself! You're finished!"

Warley sneered, but otherwise had no snappy comeback.

"_Tell me,"_ Tiger demanded. Finally, Warley caved.

"What do you think it was for?" he breathed. "Curing cancer? _We were selling it to Scorpia!"_

The lights went out for Warley not a moment later.

* * *

0o0o0o

"The drug was for Scorpia too?" Shark mumbled, frowning. Tiger was radioing him what he'd learned from the now-tied-up terrorist. "Why didn't we think of that?"

Beside him, Fox's eyes widened. "The poison was for... Scorpia… _shit._"

Shark's eyes flickered to the former MI6 agent. "What now?"

"Invisible Sword – could they be planning another Invisible Sword?" Fox was muttering to himself under his breath, beginning to pace.

"What in the hell…"

"Kurst – please tell me _somebody_ has killed Kurst!"

* * *

0o0o0o

Alex's stomach was churning out of habit, but his hands were also flexing by his sides. He was encountering Flint for the first time outside a concrete room, and while it was true that he was flanked by two of Scorpia's lapdogs, his wrists were unbound.

Alex leaped back before the gunshot even split the air, burying a bullet into the plantation. Flint's eyebrows furrowed into an angry scowl just as Alex felt hands seize his arms, holding him in place. Then Flint was walking forward, paying no heed to the growing darkness encompassing Alex's expression.

"Defenseless again," Flint whispered, raising a hand as though he was about to caress Alex's cheek. Alex received a backhand instead, his neck snapping to the side by the force of the motion. Blood dribbled down out of the corner of his lips. "None of that fabled strength in sight."

There was no more dealing with Flint anymore. It was true – Alex was out of strength. But that didn't mean he was out of options. Right then, something cracked, opening the door to a new source of power – something much more raw and primal. The shadows in Alex's vision were blurring and curling upward to blur out most of everything surrounding Flint, so he was the only subject in sight. His vision had developed a slightly red tinge.

Before that, however, a crack split the air in the space. There was no time for a howl to follow as the man on Alex's left felt himself hurl into Flint's stomach. An identical sound then arose from Alex's right-hand side, followed by blunt force trauma to the head. He dropped like a stone just as Alex's foot came down on the other man's skull, driving it into a rock beneath the surface of the dirt and removing him from the realm of the conscious. Flint was trying to squirm his way out from beneath the first man, whose broken arm was now splayed out next to him on an unnatural angle.

When he spotted the look on Alex's face, his expression transformed into one of pure terror.

"H-h-h-help!" Flint cried out into the forest just before Alex dropped to his knees on either side of the man's chest, slamming his weight into his ribcage. Flint broke out into a wheeze, sufficiently winded, and the pistol slipped out from between his fingers as easily as butter.

Alex maneuvered himself so that he had both feet crushing down on the Flint's wrists, holding him in place. Then he settled his free hand over Flint's mouth. Flint's dark eyes widened with an animalistic kind of fear, and he began insistently shaking his head.

Alex was biting his lip when he jammed the pistol into the crook of Flint's shoulders. "If Scorpia never forgives or forgets, then neither can I. I'm sick of your games – _now we're playing one of mine_._"_

Flint was throwing his head back and forth now, already shouting against Alex's hand. The pistol must have had a silencer placed on it, because Flint gave a great big jerk before screaming from beneath Alex's hand. Slowly, Alex transferred the gun to his other shoulder, his eyes following the barrel almost ritualistically. He buried it in the opposite place, his finger pulling the trigger again. Flint's entire body was seizing beneath him. Alex stared transfixed at the man's face until his thrashing eventually brought him to the edge of Alex's hand, granting him a second of speech in which he gasped,

"Please!"

That should have stopped him. No matter who was saying it, it should have stopped him.

_How many times did I say please?_ The dark force controlling Alex's movements roared. _How many times did I scream only to be greeted by __**this bastard's smile?!**_

"_Not good enough,"_ Alex hissed, dragging the gun down so that it was poised in the center or the man's ribcage. He didn't hesitate. Not even a little.

Footfall dimly alerted Alex in the back of his mind of someone's approach. They stopped, and then an unfamiliar voice murmured quietly,

"Jesus Christ…"

A choked gurgle emerged from Flint's throat. Alex turned his head so that he was gazing down at the man, wide-eyed as the dark presence began to recede. Flint's body jerked in a harsh, blood-summoning cough that tore a flinch from Alex, but he still couldn't find the sense of self to do anything other than stare.

Flint opened his mouth, taking in huge, wheezy breaths. He seemed to be struggling to say something. Grasping Alex's wrist weakly in his right hand, he drew him inward. Alex's limp body leaned obediently with the beckoning, so that Flint's red lips were centimeters from his ear. After several more wet-sounding breaths, he finally managed to produce a real sound. The word was hushed and strangled, but it was audible.

Flint had whispered, _"Strong." _And then he had died.

Alex's entire body went rigid. His breathing sped up until he was openly hyperventilating.

"Rider–" the newcomer – Hawk, a stranger to Alex – attempted to quell the spy's rising panic by reaching toward him, but before his own skin could so much as brush Alex's the boy was cramming as much distance between them as possible, stumbling to his feet and back until his body connected with a tree. He stood frozen, still staring unseeingly at Flint's mangled body. Hawk felt himself begin to panic at the image, despite regularly being the calm one in his unit's least pleasant situations.

That didn't change the fact that Hawk had _never_ been in _this_ position before. K-unit's Alex had just killed someone in cold blood. Or, to be more accurate, K-unit's Alex had just_ tortured someone to death _in cold blood. Hawk wanted to move, but for the moment he was frozen.

Alex dropped his gaze down to where his hand was still clenched white-knuckled around his gun. He made a strangled sound, immediately dropping the object and holding out his hands. Blood was sliding down his fingers in tiny beads, slow as molasses in its thick consistency. It seemed to entrance him until he remembered where he was. Gaze flickering up, he found that Hawk was ogling him, traces of fear, confusion and horror evident in his gawking expression.

"I-I-I–" Alex stammered incomprehensibly, his hands still outstretched before him as though he had no clue how the substance had gotten there. Although he had never met Hawk before, it was easy to tell the man was from J-unit – Lynx and he wore the exact same SAS uniform.

"Alex Rider," Hawk eventually breathed, body tense. "What... what on Earth did you just do?"

"I didn't–... it was real," he whispered, true astonishment in his voice. He still sounded dazed, like his mind hadn't quite processed things yet. "That was... real..."

Hawk gaped at him. Was it possible that Alex Rider had been, over the course of the last few days, driven insane? An uncomfortable pang resonated in the center of his chest as he imagined K-unit all scrambling to retrieve Alex, only to find him irreparably changed.

Alex was furiously wiping his hands off onto his shirt, scrubbing his cheek with the back of his arm. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he scrubbed those away too. It was a frenzied attempt to wipe away what he'd just done, but once again Hawk got the impression that Alex wasn't thinking again, he was just _doing._ While Alex's body reacted with all the correct emotional cues – the tears, the trembling – Alex himself seemed locked away elsewhere. Perhaps deep, deep, deep in his own mind."Rider…" Hawk hedged, and Alex recognized the uncertain apprehension in his voice. "I… don't understand. But please, come with me and I will bring you back to K-unit."

Alex might has well have not heard him. "Your team leader is bleeding out from a neck wound behind those bushes," he muttered, gesturing behind Hawk. The man half-turned, alarmed by this sudden revelation, but was prompted to return his gaze to Alex after a crunch told him that Alex has just taken a step back.

Right then, Hawk knew what he was going to do.

"Call your team medic," Alex ordered. "And_ don't _follow me."

He spun around, taking off in a run. Hawk, torn between tending to his leader and finally having in his grasp the elusive Alex Rider, remained lock-footed in place. "Rider!_ Please _don't do this!"A gunshot rang through the air, and Hawk turned to fire a shot in the direction of the bullet. There was a telling thump, but when Hawk turned back to his pursuit, he found Alex to already be gone.

"Dammit," he whispered achingly, staring after the shadows that had swallowed him up. "_No!"_

* * *

0o0o0o

Mother. Of. God. _The response I got for last chapter_. I swear I am the luckiest fanfiction writer on this whole site! Thank you guys so much for all your feedback and kind words, you have no idea the high I got from coming home to_ so many great reviews! _What on earth did I do to deserve such a wonderful group of readers? I think I must have been a saint in a past life. Seriously you guys, please, I just – I don't even know what to say. I'm just so happy. If I didn't manage to reply to your last review, please let me know in this one's and I'll make sure I get to you. I wasn't really replying to them in order so I'm not entirely sure which ones I missed. If that kind of feedback keeps up I might even be able to finish this thing before the new year! Now wouldn't that be something? I actually read through them before sitting down to work on the latest chapter for inspiration.

I know this chapter took a while to come out, and it's probably far from what any of you expected. I was at a bit of a disadvantage with this one due to the fact that 1. My brand new laptop that I got for my birthday's back light broke two weeks into its life, and 2. I arrived on September 2nd to begin my first year of university. Yeah…

So I have been in the library for the past two days holed up in the corner cubicles to try and finish this chapter, and to make up for the lateness of the update, it comes out to a whopping twelve-thousand words. And there was still much I wish I could have added… There's some dark humor in here, but with the absence of Eagle and most of Alex's sanity, it's a bit lacking. Sorry about that! The Carlisle arch _is_ coming to an end, so for anybody anticipating their return to Chelsea, well… so am I. I'm sick of Cumbria!

Also, I typed "Shake" about ten times while writing this chapter. It should be known that I was not referring to the entertaining action verb, but, in fact, the incredibly inconvenient portmanteau of Shark and Snake that I found myself editing out of every fifth paragraph. Gah!

You'll all be happy to know that I'm taking my writing course this term, which will mean future chapters' style and flow will be improved. Yay!

And one last little thing – when the chapters get really big like this, I have a hard time reading them back over word-for-word, so I miss quite a few little mistakes in the writing. I really don't want to get a beta, so I was wondering if anybody would be willing to just leave the whereabouts of the mistakes in their review so I could go back and change them all at once? I really hate having mistakes sitting in the chapters for months, but because I read over the same lines so many times, my eyes develop an immunity to my common errors. That would be just fantastic!

"K-unit really_ is _just a bunch of women." That's because they're _written by one! _Bwahahaha ilikemymensensitiveokaybye.

**Next chapter:** Wolf develops a revenge complex, Alex's sanity (and whereabouts) are questioned, J-unit reels from the events of their first mission, and Lana Knight makes a decision.


	27. Fuel on the Fire

_"Call your team medic," Alex ordered. "And **don't **follow me."_

He spun around, taking off in a run. Hawk, torn between tending to his leader and finally having in his grasp the elusive Alex Rider, remained lock-footed in place. "Rider! **Please **don't do this!"

A gunshot rang through the air, and Hawk turned to fire a shot in the direction of the bullet. There was a telling thump, but when Hawk turned back to his pursuit, he found Alex to already be gone.

"Dammit," he whispered achingly, staring after the shadows that had swallowed him up. "**No!**"

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 27

**Fuel on the Fire**

"Nobody saw him after that? _Nobody?"_

Wolf's bafflement was obvious as he stood surrounded by the remaining five men of K/J-unit. Fox and Snake both shuffled their feet while Shark crossed his arms over his chest and Tiger guiltily looked to the ground. Hawk was stubbornly silent. Only three people had managed to escape the raid: Kurst, Scorpia's head of operations – who had come in person for God-knows-what reason but had at least carried in him the sense of selfpreservation to wear a bullet-proof vest beneath his blazer; Gallagher, the leader of the mismatched terrorist group who had been holding Alex, and Finnegan, who'd arguably been the brains behind development of the drug.

"Then he must have been recaptured," Wolf whispered, his hands balling up into fists. "Brilliant – just bloody _brilliant. _Shit_."_

"Wolf…" Fox began, his voice dim as he looked anywhere but at his team leader. "What do we do now?"

Wolf was thinking more along the lines of _what do we tell Eagle?_ There was such a heavy pressure in his chest that he could scarcely breathe. He'd failed twice. He was a failure. Alex was back in enemy hands.

Completely out of nowhere, Hawk stepped forward and announced, "Actually, I saw him."

There was a short silence. Wolf gaped at him, momentarily at a loss. Finally, he sputtered, "You – you did? Well why the hell didn't you say anything a minute ago?"

Hawk glanced away. Wolf took in the way his body suddenly tensed. The normally composed man all but began counting and taking deep breaths for how nervous he suddenly seemed. His chiseled jaw clenched.

"I… didn't want to. But I can't watch this."

Wolf's stomach dropped. Images of guns and blood and Alex falling to the ground rampaged his mind, almost dizzying him. At some point he'd stopped breathing and begun holding his breath against what the soldier would tell him. _Please, no._

"Rider is… gone again."

_Gone again. Dead again. Alex Rider is dead. Again._

Wolf's back hit the tree behind him, and he thought that if that hadn't been there, he might have collapsed. After everything they went through – after all the promises he made – and Alex was–

"He ran away."

There was a collective intake of breath.

Then Snake hissed, "… _What?_ What does _that _mean?"

Hawk kept his gaze as level as possible. He appeared much calmer now than he did before, however reluctant his words came out as. "It means he turned around and ran. From me. It must have been right after… Lynx was shot."

Shark's face tightened as he narrowed his eyes. Tiger pursed his lips at the reminder, giving off the impression of a very sad kitten.

"But… why would he run?"

"I'm sorry," Hawk began earnestly, and K-unit braced themselves, "but have you ever prepared yourself for the thought that maybe… you wouldn't get to him in time?"

Wolf frowned. "But we just made it – you told us he ran away only a second ago!"

Hawk shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I… I'm not sure the Alex Rider you're looking for is the Alex Rider you'll find."

Fox stepped forward, jamming a finger rather rudely in Hawk's face. "Take that back!" he ordered coldly. Hawk held his hands up, trying to appear harmless.

"I wish I could," he replied quietly. "But I can't."

Shark stomped forward and wrenched Fox's hand out of Hawk's proximity, throwing it off to the side angrily. "Don't lash out at our teammate just because _you guys_ failed!"

As it were, Lynx and Eagle, the two team's usual mediators – three, if you counted Alex – were currently absent from the equation. That was why the fight escalated so quickly.

"We haven't failed yet!" Snake snapped. "We_ will_ get him back!"

"You don't know _what_ you're going to get back! Hawk just _told_ you the kid's gone nuts!"

"He's injured! He's sleep deprived! He's been repeatedly drugged with a hallucinogenic!" Fox defended furiously. "He'll be fine – we'll fix him! Just shut up, Shark!"

"You guys, stop fighting, please!" Tiger cried, latching himself onto one of Shark's arms to try and keep him from waving it about. Shark easily shook the smaller man off.

"No! Screw these guys! It's like the other one said – this isn't even an official mission; we had _no_ obligation to help them and _look what happened!_ _We_ got hurt, and _they failed anyway!"_

Wolf visibly flinched. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his tight fingers uncurling in defeat. All five men quieted in their bickering, because Wolf apologizing for anything was extremely rare (even if it had been happening more often as of late).

"I'm sorry your teammate got hurt. I'll fix this. And I'll fix Cub. And both our units will be whole again. _They will."_

The entire apology was made in hushed tones as each man one by one drained themselves of their defensiveness and succumbed to the feeling of loss. Wolf rattled off each vow like it was all he could do to keep from falling apart right then and there. He looked even more miserable than he did exhausted.

"Cub is somewhere in the city. He can't have gotten far. I'm sure he'll call; he has to eventually. He's not okay right now but he will be; we'll make sure of it. Lynx will heal and then you four can go home and forget you ever met us, okay? And I'm sorry for tonight. Believe me, I am."

His speech was missing all of its usual lustrous strength and inspiring boldness. The group could barely hear him.

"Sure, Wolf," Snake murmured, working his way over to Wolf's side and placing his hands on the man's shoulders. "Let's just go back and call it a night. We'll work on fixing things tomorrow."

"I'll fix them," Wolf repeated emptily. Tiger looked crestfallen, watching the exchange with watery eyes.

"I know, Wolf. I know."

* * *

0o0o0o

Alex had another lapse of consciousness at some point while he was running, resurfacing in reality only after his feet were forced to slow and he became aware of the pounding in his bones and the lactic acid eating away at his muscles. Both his legs were burning with strain, while his lungs felt so overworked that he was forced to place a hand on his chest to mediate the air rapidly flooding them. He dropped to his knees, panting, and then onto his hands, so that his slick fringe hung down in front of him and all he could see beneath were pebbles and dirt and his own two hands cracked with blood, new and old.

Eventually his thoughts were able to catch up with his surroundings and he rolled over so that he was lying on his back, staring up at the dark, twinkling night sky. In the distance sirens were wailing, and he couldn't help but wonder about them – were they being called to the parking lot, perhaps by some concerned citizen? Would they search the forest and discover the warzone? Would they happen upon Flint, and–

Alex squeezed his eyes shut, but that only made the replaying vision that much more vivid. Hot and cold surged through his body at regular intervals, leaving him unsure of the actual temperature of the air. Every piece of him was hurting, the physical and beyond, and he found himself thinking about, of all people, Sabina. Sabina and her long dark hair, washed and brushed habitually to retain its shine. Sabina and her smooth, un-calloused hands, short, clean nails, glossy lips. Sabina and her future in journalism, her future in documenting the events around her without ever being forced to participate as he had. He found himself happy for her – really, _really, _genuinely happy for her.

But then he held his hands up in front of his eyes again. It wasn't all Flint's blood – lots of it was his, stemming from the X-shaped wounds on his palms. He was sure they would scar once they healed, unmistakably marking them as the hands of a killer. He'd lost a fingernail, but if that finger was throbbing, the pain was being dwarfed by other sources. He tried to picture Sabina's hands looking like this, and once again shut his eyes against the image. A different kind of pain was tightening his chest now, and he knew what it meant.

He and Sabina couldn't be together. After this, he wasn't sure anybody could convince him to ever face her again.

His thoughts wandered to Jack. Pushing down the desire to choke up, Alex dropped his hands and lost himself. When he came to, he was on his feet, fist buried in the trunk of a tree. After a moment's pause in which he tried to process what he'd just done, Alex jerked it back, cradling it against his chest. He was alone, without any idea of where he was, and trapped in the middle of his worst nightmare. Alex's finger's tightened around the hand he held above his pounding heart.

_Calm down, Alex,_ the spy in him chimed in. _Regroup! Make a plan! __**Calm down!**_

Alex took a deep breath, and found himself unconsciously holding it.

He eventually concluded that he must have ended up in some kind of park, because from where he was standing he could spot a small canal with a bridge connecting him to the other side. Where should he go? Where _could_ he go? He looked worse than if he'd just stepped out of a boxing ring. Surely anybody to see him would alert the police – hell, _he_ would alert the police if he saw himself parading down the street.

A hospital briefly crossed his mind, but if he went there in his current state there wasn't a doubt in his mind that he'd have a bad reaction. The lights and needles would surely evoke his new, monstrous defense mechanism – the one he had absolutely no control over.

He decided to cross the bridge until he reached the edge of the park, if only to get his heavy legs moving again before he passed out. By this time, the horizon had just begun to brighten, signifying the transition into dawn. As soon as Alex stumbled out through the archway scribing the words "Carlisle National Park", a car pulled up in front of him. He instinctively backed away, until the window rolled down and a familiar voice was greeting,

"Hello, Alex."

_I am so sick of hearing that._

* * *

0o0o0o

J-unit had joined Lynx at the hospital for the night, so when Snake, Fox and Wolf arrived back at the hotel, they were accompanied only by their own exhaustion. Exhaustion buried so deep that they'd forgotten to call Eagle and inform him of how everything had gone down. That was why by the time they arrived on the second floor and the door to room 211 was thrown open by their forth member, they froze at the sight of his smile.

Eagle's smile did not last as he took in their state. His eyes widened. Nobody offered any words. Finally, Eagle murmured carelessly, "Where's Cub?"

Wolf flinched. Fox and Snake shifted uneasily. Eagle's eyes turned murderous. "_Where is he?"_

"We don't know, Eagle!" Fox snapped. "We don't _know_ where he is. He bolted!"

Eagle faltered, his mouth opening and closing a few times until he was able to find a gear to shift to. "What happened to Scorpia and the rest of them?"

"Dead, for the most part," Wolf grunted, pushing forward to shoulder past Eagle. The thinner man allowed himself to be pushed back a little, his green eyes confused and upset. "For the most part?"

"Three got away," Snake offered quietly, following. "The two leaders and one of the scientists."

"And Cub," Eagle repeated bluntly, more as an affirmation than a question. Fox crawled in after them, and Eagle turned around after shutting the door. The three collapsed onto the beds, looking gritty and undeniably worse-for-wear. Snake spotted Eagle's look and sighed.

"Lynx and Hawk were the only people to encounter Cub," he explained, gratefully taking a warm wet cloth from Fox's outstretched hand before passing it off to Wolf. "Lynx was shot in the neck – he's alive, but he's in the hospital, so we haven't spoken with him yet."

"And Hawk?" Eagle demanded. Snake's gaze drifted.

"Hawk was the one he bolted from. Hawk… said some things."

"To Cub?"

"About Cub."

There was another momentary silence in which Eagle was left glancing between the three men. Wolf broke in at last, his voice sounding like broken glass.

"He told us Alex had gone insane."

Eagle laughed, loudly and humourlessly. "That's impossible."

"He _ran_, Eagle." Wolf tugged a twig out of his back pocket, glaring at it before tossing it to the floor. "Why would he run?"

"Because he was scared," Eagle explained in bewilderment, as though the answer was plain as day. Wolf frowned. "Not to mention the condition he was in! You guys don't really believe Alex lost his mind permanently, do you?"

At their silence, Eagle's look of surprise morphed into one of anger. "Are… are you serious?"

"Do we look like we're joking?" Wolf snapped mulishly. Eagle stepped forward, smacking the man upside the head. While Fox and Snake both gaped at the action, something even more shocking surfaced: Wolf didn't react. Eagle looked pained by the lack of reaction, taking a couple steps back away from his unmoved leader.

"You guys…" he whispered, eyebrows pressed together. "Do you all think… _I've_ lost my mind?"

All three men instantly looked up, alarmed by the question. Fox was the first to speak. "Of course not, Eagle! Is that why you think Wolf told you not to come?"

Eagle shook his head. "I understand why I couldn't come, but I… I was exposed to that drug too. I saw a lot of horrible things, and I was _terrified_ beyond control, but you – you three were there to hold me down, to ground me. You three were there to stop me from doing anything dangerous…"

Snake and Fox seemed to understand at the same time. Eagle continued, his voice uncharacteristically distressed. "And I feel… a lot better now."

Wolf and Eagle gazed across at each other. Wolf's mouth felt dry.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out. Fox and Snake looked uncomfortable. He cleared his throat.

"On behalf of the unit, I'm sorry for making you feel obsolete. You and Cub's situations are very different, though."

"Wolf," Eagle cut him off defensively. "I didn't see Cub. I don't know what kind of disrepair his mind is in right now. But I do know one thing – Alex's whole life has been like this. This isn't even the first time he's been kidnapped and… hurt like this. And how did he introduce himself to us when we met him again back at your house? _Seventeen and single."_

Wolf's eyebrows rose. Even Fox couldn't help but choke out a breathy laugh, even if it did sound slightly hysterical.

"It's the first sign of trouble and you don't even bother to give him the benefit of the doubt? That's shameful! Alex is one of the strongest people I know. That's why we're going to find him, and we're going to help him through what is currently tormenting him. He's… family. And we're a unit that doesn't leave anyone behind."

"I never said I was going to leave anyone behind," Wolf returned guardedly, turning his stubborn gaze away. But the rest of the unit was able to see a glimmer of light return to Wolf's previously empty eyes. This was what he needed, they knew. Eagle softened.

"Of course you didn't. Because I think this whole time, deep down, you knew you weren't going to give up on Alex – and you knew you hadn't really failed."

Wolf's head snapped up. His heart staggered in his chest. A flush encompassed his pale, weary face. It was like those words had lit him on fire.

Eagle offered a feeble smile. "You thought I'd be mad, didn't you?"

Wolf didn't reply. The scene was oddly reminiscent of a little boy who'd spilled the milk and a mother who understood it was an accident.

"You _didn't_ fail, Wolf. Alex may not be with us, but he's – at the very least – out of enemy hands. And believe it or not, that _does_ count for something. At least it does to me."

Fox was mock-blubbering behind them, earning him a glare from Wolf and a smack from Snake.

"Besides, something had to go wrong. After all, _I_ wasn't there."

"Ah, yes," Snake piped up dryly, "the blazing spirit of our unit."

Eagle grinned, and Wolf wondered if there was a man in the room that the joke hadn't silently rung true with.

* * *

0o0o0o

"I'm here to pick you up."

Even in his threadbare state, a hundred jokes flickered through his mind in response to those words, especially considering who they were coming from. Sadly, Alex was in no state of mind to voice any of them. Lana Knight – or Dr. Feelgood as Alex knew her – was gazing across at Alex, her midnight gaze taking in his every trembling weakness. He backed away, shaking his head.

"No you're not," he replied, preparing himself to run again. She held up a hand, telling him patiently,

"Don't run. I'm from the CIA."

He hesitated. It was a rookie mistake as she'd been one of the doctors to personally strap him to a hospital bed… but then again, she was also one of the doctors he'd gotten _away_ from. She also wasn't throwing brutish thugs at him, so that was a plus.

He scowled. "As if that puts you on my side."

"Actually, it does. I have orders to safely retrieve you from the hands of the enemy–"

"_Well,"_ he cut her off with a bitter laugh. "Check me out, then! No enemy hands in sight!"

He threw open his arms, as though inviting her eyes to take in his state of freedom. Instead, she focused on _his_ hands.

"You're bleeding," she accused, narrowing her eyes. "Get in the car."

"You're going to take me to K-unit, aren't you?"

She remained stonily silent, her slender hands loosely draped over the steering wheel without showing a hint of unease. "I'd think that would be something you'd_ like_ to happen?"

He looked away, guilt stabbing at his insides. Of course it was something he'd _like. _Alex would _like_ nothing more than to show up in front of K-unit's door and grovel at their _feet _for rescuing him from what had already been classified as a fate worse than death. That being said, he'd also _like_ to be warm and cozy in his bed with Sabina, doing all the unholy deeds in the book. Unfortunately, the world did not operate on what Alex would _like._ In fact, it seemed more inclined to operate on what Alex expressly _did not _like.

"Yeah, well, I have other priorities right now," he bit out, unwilling to elaborate on just how far gone he was. Lana smiled, and Alex would have described it as _kind_ had he been looking at anyone other than a CIA agent at the time.

"Responsibilities like protecting them?" she asked quietly. He glared at her, finding his first reaction to her entire presence to be anger.

"What do you know?" Alex snapped explosively. He hadn't meant for her to actually answer the question, though that was exactly what she did.

"I know that you're completely at your wits end, Alex. And I know that you can't accept help from the good guys or the bad guys right now. So why not accept help from me? I'm a little bit of both, aren't I?"

He didn't want to be manipulated by her, but her words were gradually beginning to win him over. She didn't intend to harm him, but at the same time if he was ever to lash out at her, she'd feel no remorse in slamming him down back into place. She'd also used the word _help_ twice, solidifying how completely useless to himself he presently was.

She leaned back to unlock the passenger door, and with a heavy sigh, he stepped around the front of the car and dragged himself inside. The leather seats were plush and – _oh_ sweet lord_ – heated, _so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to Lana what happened next.

"So, Alex, care to explain why you felt the need to…"

She trailed off upon discovering Alex was already fast asleep, his arms crossed cautiously over his chest and long legs stretched out haphazardly before him. His eyes were finally closed, face relaxed in a way few ever got the chance to see.

There wasn't a trace of an agenda in the smile that overtook Lana's red lips then.

* * *

0o0o0o

Alex awoke briefly when Lana's car pulled into the driveway of 802 Baker Street, but he seemed set on the idea of sitting tight where he was. Lana jostled his shoulder, calling quietly,

"We're going inside now, Alex."

"You go," he mumbled without opening his eyes. "I stay."

"No," she pressed, frowning. "There's a bed inside waiting for you."

"Just… just tell it you're me. It's never seen me before; it'll… believe you…"

"We need to tend to your wounds. If they go untreated, we could be risking infection. I'd rather not force you, but frankly, I'm not above it."

His eyes snapped open, as though he was just then remembering where he'd fallen asleep and what his situation was. Upon spying the blank-faced bleariness in Alex's eyes, Lana took a step away from the vehicle. A second later she was dodging the end of the car door as it was catapulted open and Alex darted out, making a break for the back exit. She surged forward, closing her hand around his wrist and immediately blocking the right hook he threw not a split-second later. Holding both his hands firmly in place, she ended the fight by not making any kind of move to further it, prompting him to stop reacting. Slowly, Alex's presence trickled back into his gaze, and Lana deemed it safe to release him.

He rubbed his left wrist in discomfort, mumbling softly, "Sorry."

"I forgive you," she responded curtly. "Now let's get a move on into the house, shall we?"

When they got inside, the first thing Alex registered was how dark it was. Lana seemed to sense his discomfort and moved to flick on the center light, but Alex stopped her.

"Just turn the lamp on," he requested. "Nothing too… bright. Please."

She slowly nodded, leading him into the living room and placing him on the couch. It was far enough from a medical setting that Alex was able to slightly relax. Lana disappeared for a minute in which Alex began nodding off again, but when she returned it was with a large medical kit and a glass of steaming milk, retracting his attention. Alex eyed the drink, swallowing when he felt his throat tighten up.

_"W-what's that?" _he could once remember asking. Wolf's voice filtered into his thoughts. _"It's a Ferrari, Cub. Just take it."_

She waved it in front of it a bit, startling him back into reality. Warily, he reached forward to take the warm glass, instantly dirtying the pristine white surface with his filthy hands. He grimaced.

Lana sat down in front of him, deciding to supply a little more back story for him before attempting to do anything that might trigger a backlash. She wasn't one to appreciate strangers prodding at her body, either.

"My real name is Lana Knight," she told him, placing her hands in her lap. She was seated on a plush green ottoman, her short golden hair tied back in a tiny ponytail at the back of her head. Behind her, an electric fireplace had been flicked on, illuminating the room just enough to allow her precision with her ministrations. "I was sent on behalf of the American government to eradicate the men behind your kidnapping operation, and collect samples and notes on the drug they were developing. I was also sent to ensure you were rescued."

"Thanks," he said, trying not to sound dry. "I think it went pretty well."

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're alive. And there are only two men left standing from the organization that engineered your capture. I also succeeded in taking documents and samples of the drug."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks," she said, repeating his earlier phrase in as close an imitation as she could muster. "I couldn't have done it without K-unit and J-unit, though."

Alex looked down. "How long have they been here?" he asked quietly.

"Something like the better half of a week. They did a ton of investigating, visiting the two hospitals you escaped from, as well as the homes of both I and the man whose car you stole."

"Not my brightest moment, that."

"You painted a decent trail for them to follow. At one point, Fox was masquerading as a Japanese MI6 agent."

"Fox isn't Japanese."

"They care about you a great deal."

Alex was silent. His fingers tightened around the glass of milk as he released a long, world-weary sigh. Unable to resist, he placed the milk on the table next to him and raked a hand through his blond hair. With the added red streaks, he looked like a punk rocker who'd taken a serious beating.

"I know. I – it's not like I don't care about _them."_

His tone was defensive, and she gave an affirmative nod to show him she understood.

"Of course that's not what this is about – the running, and the… hiding. But I can't face them yet. It's too dangerous. I'm too…"

"Screwed up?" she supplied. He shot her a dirty look.

"To put it crudely."

"Well, who better to fix you than them?"

Alex remained stonily pensive. His fingers were flexing now. Lana took in his every move, drawing a complex picture of Alex Rider that few could detect. "First I need to figure out if I'm… fixable."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I don't know!" he eventually conceded, unable to hide his frustration. "Do I look like I have all the answers yet? I just – I don't want them to see me like this! Isn't that enough?"

He couldn't help but notice how calm Lana was. _Well,_ he thought, _to be put on a mission like this, she can't exactly be new to the profession. _Through her darkly-lidded eyes, Lana offered him a very small smile.

"Perhaps you should forgo what you want for what they need."

He flinched. "They need to see me… yes. I mean, the last time they saw me, they thought it was my final hour. And I… I know they've been searching for me. But it's not just a pride thing. I can't be treated as _Cub of K-unit_ right now – I can't be treated as a friend, or a – a teammate, or – whatever! I'm a ticking goddamned time-bomb right now, Lana!"

"They're four trained SAS soldiers. You think they couldn't take one seventeen year-old boy?"

"It's not just _one seventeen year-old boy_ though. It's _me_. They wouldn't do anything to hurt me, and at the moment, I… I can't say the same for myself. I mean Wolf blames himself so much he's probably _waiting _for me to throw a punch at him. I _can't_ be there right now – what if I…"

He broke off, and the end of the sentence hung in the air between them with the weight of an anvil attached to it.

_Lose control._

He wouldn't say anymore, and Lana realized that he was right. At least for the moment.

"I don't even understand why you're pushing this so hard," he muttered, picking up the glass and taking a large swig with the kind of weary disillusionment that usually accompanied a bottle. "Re-uniting me with my unit is not in your job description."

"It's because I've fallen in love with Wolf."

He choked, barely managing to keep from spewing his milk into her face. Swallowing and succumbing to the coughing fit, he fixed her with wide eyes and exclaimed in a rasp, _"What?"_

"Is it so hard to believe?" she said dreamily, placing both hands on her cheeks. "Wracked with guilt and self-recrimination, but still prepared to do anything to make his unit whole again! Always so strong in front of his men even while inside he's falling apart, _piece by piece!_"

Alex laughed a little at that, childishly ducking his face and trying to smother the smile even while fighting the painful ache in his chest at the thought of his distance from K-unit and that world. Lana's hands fell from her face. "Ah, you're one of _those_ girls…" Alex accused.

"Girl?" she repeated, perturbed. They both knew it was all merely in jest. However, despite Lana's obvious exaggeration, Alex could tell she wasn't entirely kidding about her feelings for his unit leader.

"_Little_ girl," he added cheekily. She reached out to lightly smack him, but upon noticing his guarded expression, instantly retreated. Alex seemed to grow troubled by that – his new inability to take even the least-threatening of physical advances.

"Anyway," Lana carried on flippantly, crossing her legs, "I think it's time for us to begin treating your wounds. Off with the shirt."

"Easier said than done," he responded, so Lana pulled a pair of scissors from her medical kit and placed them by her side on the ottoman. Alex reached forward to take them into his own hands, grateful for her tact. When he was finished removing the fabric, Lana leaned forward to inspect the soiled bandages wrapping his side as well as his mummified right arm – Alex's two worst injuries. His hands would also have to be dealt with.

Alex lifted his arms, revealing precision cuts in his inner elbows as well. She winced, reaching for the antiseptic.

"Cut off the bandages around your stomach."

He sent her a pained look. "Do I have to?"

"Unless you want to contract an infection and die in severe pain, yes."

Reluctantly, Alex severed the gauze above the center of his stomach, trying to peel it back as slowly as possible. He pressed his lips together when it got to the bullet wound, where blood had dried, gluing it to the tender flesh. It had begun to bleed again, and it was certainly a horror show to look at, but Lana could spy the healing process trying to take over. She pulled a warm wet cloth from where she'd stuffed it in the kit while the milk was heating up, moving to sit beside him so she could get a closer look.

"To be perfectly honest, it would be looking a lot better if you hadn't been doing acrobatics for the past twenty-four hours."

"Actually, I don't think it would. I think it would be looking a lot worse because I would be dead."

"Touché."

She brought the cloth down onto the wound, using her free hand to pin Alex's wrist back against the couch from where it was trying to prod her hand away. Fortunately, the cleaning of the wound didn't _actually _hurt too much – in fact, it was really quite soothing. When Lana finished cleaning out the injury, she brought forward the antiseptic.

"This is the part that's going to hurt," she warned him. Alex sucked in his breath.

"Okay."

There was a small sting. Then a large sting. Then nothingness.

When he came to, there was a red welt on Lana's upper cheekbone that looked like it fully intended to bruise. Alex was crouched behind the couch, his fingers curled around the back of the cushions, staining the dainty floral pattern.

"Drink more of the milk," she ordered, irritated. Alex's side was throbbing as he swayed and collapsed, finding himself too dizzy to keep standing. She stepped around to the other side, observing his now-prone form. He glared up at her.

"You… drugged me!"

"I knew something like this would happen. Please forgive me."

"No! I trusted you!"

"Yes. And that was a good choice, because if I hadn't done this, I never would have been able to properly treat your injuries."

"I… you… _bitch_…"

His eyes slipped closed, and she exhaled, placing a hand on her cheek. At least it wasn't bleeding. Now if only he'd passed out on the _couch._

* * *

0o0o0o

"He's going to be okay, but they're putting one of those really awkward neck braces on him," Tiger informed Wolf over the phone. "I don't think there's going to be too much permanent damage other than a harsh scar – they were able to treat him in time. Apparently he'd just lost a lot of blood, and that was why we couldn't wake him up. Shark did a transfusion. I volunteered but they said I was too frail…"

Wolf sighed. "You _are_ frail... Okay, that's good news. Thanks, Tiger."

"Sure, Wolf. When Lynx wakes up I'll ask him if he might have any idea of Alex Rider's whereabouts."

"Tell him thanks for me as well. Goodnight."

All four men had showered and cleaned themselves up before heading off to their respective rooms. Now Wolf was perched at the end of his bed, hands massaging his scalp. Snake collapsed on his own adjacent bed face-down, mumbling into the mattress,

"I am dead on my feet."

Wolf didn't respond, so Snake pulled himself into a sitting position for a clear look at the man. "You look like you're thinking pretty hard."

"I'm trying to figure out some things…" he murmured vaguely.

Snake leaned in, curious. "What are the things?"

Wolf's eyes were narrowed as he focused his glare onto the wall in front of him. Sometimes, Snake recalled, Wolf looked like this before important missions, where he was running game plans through his head over and over and over searching for any kind of hole in their strategy, and developing plans B through Z.

"Where and why Alex would leave…" he explained slowly, "and what happened to Lana."

"Lana?" Snake's eyebrows rose.

"Lana Knight," Wolf clarified.

"Yeah, I know who you're talking about. Wolf, _what_ is going on between you two?"

Wolf didn't say anything, too locked in his state of concentration to reply. Sometimes Snake wondered if he wasn't technically meditating for how well he was able to shut out the world. "Wolf?"

"Hm?" Wolf glanced up, his eyes betraying his disinterest. "Oh, she kissed me."

"Wait–" Snake frowned, confusion clouding his eyes. "… Seriously?"

"Uh-huh."

"When?!"

"At McKinnon's."

"You guys didn't…"

"Of course not. When would we have?"

"I don't know. When would you two have _kissed?"_

"I just told you that."

Snake sighed. "Could we please_ talk_ about this?"

Wolf fixed him with an annoyed look, now thoroughly disturbed from his Wolf-Meditation. "Why?" he snorted. "It's not going anywhere."

"It'd better not," Snake told him seriously. "She's a _spy,_ Wolf. First off, she can't be trusted. Second off, she's impermanent. And _third–"_

"Snake," Wolf cut in, "I get it already. Lay off – I _just_ said there was nothing to pursue."

"It's just that you're not exactly Mr. Assertive when it comes to women, if I recall."

Wolf sniffed at the obvious reference to Tammy. Snake seemed to read his mind when he continued, "And I'm not just talking about _her._ There was also Linda, that nurse who you _knew _was stealing from you but didn't put a stop to until Eagle forcibly called the cops."

"In my defense, she used to be a yoga instructor."

"Wasn't that Emily?"

"… Oh, yeah. Well, Linda had the whole nurse-thing going on."

"I think you meant to say 'kleptomania-thing' going on."

"Snake, please, can we not go down this road…"

"Wolf! I really _am_ serious about this!"

Wolf stood up, directly facing Snake with his anger now. "The _reason_ I want to know what happened to her _isn't_ so I can drag her back to this fucking hotel suit and shag her! She isn't picking up her phone – it's not normal!"

"Who _cares_ if she hasn't picked up her damned phone? We're done with her now! She's probably gone back to America – she got her drug sample!"

"No," Wolf insisted, "her mission isn't over. She won't leave without sending Gallagher and Finnegan straight to hell. And," he mumbled, his eyes widening, "and – without rescuing Alex…!"

"… What?" Snake inquired suspiciously at the look of revelation that overtook Wolf's harsh features.

"Alex is at _Lana's_ house!"

Snake leaned back to glance at the clock, noting the flashing green numbers announcing 8:17 A.M. "Wolf, you can't possibly be thinking of going over there now," he deadpanned as Wolf spun around and headed for the door. He quickly straightened as he realized his leader was serious.

"Wolf – Wolf, you haven't slept! Get back here!"

"I'll be back in less than an hour," Wolf called over his shoulder. "Don't wait up."

The door slammed shut and Snake was left standing alone in the hotel room.

* * *

0o0o0o

Alex had been asleep post-treatment for just over an hour now, leaving Lana alone in her office. It was around 8:30 when she heard a knock sound at her door, long fingers pausing in their frantic typing in lieu of hovering over the keyboard. With a weary sigh, Lana stood up.

The front door was pulled inward. "Wolf."

Wolf placed a hand on her shoulder and shoved her aside, letting himself in. She stepped away from him, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't it a little… _early_ to be coming to me like this?"

He glared at her, hands flexing into fists at his sides. "That's not why I'm here. I'm looking for Cub."

She placed a slender hand on her hip. "Why on Earth do you think you're going to find him _here?"_

"Because _you_ were charged with making sure he returns safely. I really doubt you'd be all cozy at home if the reason you're here was running around half-out of his mind. Bring me to him."

"He's not here, Wolf."

"You're lying!" he marched up to her and closed the distance between them so her face, tilted upwards to meet his gaze, was mere centimeters from his own. She retained her relaxed composure even as his eyes flashed with betrayal.

"You know how much I need to see him alive and – and _okay._ You _know._ Why didn't you call me?"

"There was nothing to call you about," she snapped, sliding a finger up his chest before jamming it forward, shoving him away from her. "He _isn't here."_

"Prove it," he growled, and she offered a vague shrug.

"Go ahead and look for him if you're so sure. Even spies need to sleep."

Wolf wasn't sure if she was referring to Alex or herself, but he didn't really care, either. Stomping away from her, he began storming the house, his presence like a hurricane. He opened cabinets in the kitchen like he expected to find Alex's severed head stashed away in one, scouring the living room until he eventually decided to move onto the second floor.

There he discovered the doors to two bathrooms, two bedrooms, and an office. He tore them open, mindless of the creaking hinges and splintering wood. Lana followed after him calmly, inspecting where the screws in the knobs seemed to have been yanked loose.

There was only one door left – the guest bedroom, presumably. Wolf made a beeline for it, ignoring Lana as she tried to call his name.

The white door might as well have been kicked open, but in the end, the room was undeniably empty. Wolf spun around, murderous.

"_Dammit_, Lana! _Where is he?"_ he demanded.

"You are acting like a child," she replied coldly, pressing her back against the doorframe.

Wolf's righteousness seemed to be fading, but he persevered, pointing insistently at the ruffled sheets.

"Someone's been sleeping here."

"Yes," she conceded irritably. "Me."

"In the _guest bedroom?"_ he asked dubiously.

"After the assassination attempt, yes. Where do you think killers usually head first when searching for someone living alone?"

Wolf's shoulders were heaving from the force of his stampede. Now that he thought about it, the master bedroom _had _seemed a little too un-lived-in. The bed was perfectly made, throw pillows arranged as they might be seen in a model home or a photograph.

"He…" Wolf's hands uncurled at his sides, his body seeming to finally accept defeat. "He's gotta be here…"

"I'll help you look tomorrow, Wolf. He can't have gotten far."

"He can if he's been picked up by Scorpia."

"You _need_ to sleep."

Wolf shook his head miserably. Cautiously, Lana moved toward his side, pulling one of his hands into hers. "He'll come back to you eventually."

"I don't even understand why he ran away in the first place," Wolf whispered. "Do you think he's…"

"Angry? Of course not. I'm sure he had his reasons – spies always do. Besides – after what you went through to get him back, why in the world would he be _mad_ at you?"

"Because maybe it wasn't enough," he breathed, running a hand through his hair. Lana knew who he picked _that_ up from. "I'd – I'd be mad."

"No you wouldn't," she responded. "Of course you wouldn't. You might be scared, or lost, or half-crazy with lack of sleep, but you wouldn't be mad at anyone other than yourself."

He slid his hand out of her grasp, finally glancing up to meet her eyes. "You know, you don't even really know me."

"I kinda do," she told him with a small smile. "Besides, you remind me of someone."

"Who?"

But Lana just shook her head. "It's time for you to go home, Wolf."

She led him downstairs and said goodbye in the doorway, slipping a hand onto the back of his neck and pulling him forward to press his mouth against hers. After only a moment's hesitation Wolf returned the embrace, weaving his hands around her waist and inching her body closer. It wasn't urgent like last time, but there was a level of comfort to be found in the kiss. When they broke apart, neither said a word before the door was shut, as though that covered any further formalities to be uttered.

Lana ascended the staircase slowly, reentering the guest bedroom and flicking on the light. "You can come out now, Alex."

There was no movement to be caught with sight in the room, but Lana did hear something muffled emerge from the closet. She was next to it in an instant, carefully pulling open the door. There, curled up with his back against the wall and his good arm wrapped around his legs sat one miserable Alex Rider. His face was buried in his knees, mummified left arm lying uselessly next to him.

"He's gone," Lana told him. Alex seemed to tighten in further on himself. He looked smaller and younger than Lana could picture; even injured he had towered over her, physically and emotionally. His presence was always blindingly vivid with _something, _be it anger or challenge, unabashed criticism or uncontrolled emotion. She just wasn't prepared to see that same person focus all that energy inward in a valiant attempt at disappearing into the floor.

The position called upon Lana's motherly instincts. "Are you alright?" she asked reproachfully, unsure on what she should be doing. It was not often that Lana was rendered uncomfortable enough to feel clumsy with her hands, let alone her words.

"This is so fucked up," the tiny Alex-ball croaked.

Lana kneeled down next to him. "I know. I think you should…"

"Stop," Alex ordered, lifting his head high enough so Lana could just see how vulnerable his eyes were, red veins evident from repressed tears. "Don't."

"Neither of you can deal with this."

"I _can,_" Alex hissed.

"What about Wolf?"

"_Shut up."_

"You don't need _time, _Alex – you need therapy. You need your friends and family. And they obviously need _you_."

"I said shut _up!"_ he shouted, and Lana instinctively jumped back, expecting to be attacked for her provocations. Instead, Alex just stared at her from where he hadn't moved, immersed in the shadows of the empty closet. Lana realized her mistake when Alex dropped his face back into his knees.

"I'm… sorry," she offered.

"You don't have to apologize," Alex mumbled despondently. "I get it."

And so Lana got it too. Alex didn't want to go back because he didn't want his friends to be scared of him – but at the same time, if they weren't on guard, he could hurt one of them. It was a very difficult situation indeed. One that had Lana momentarily stumped on what exactly she would do were she in his position. She realized she no longer had any authority on the matter.

"You should go back to sleep," she told him, reaching out her hand. He reluctantly took it, pulling himself into a standing position before being gently pushed in the direction of the bed. He stumbled toward it, sliding under the blankets. Lana gazed down at his depleted form.

"Sweet dreams, Alex."

The lights flickered out.

* * *

0o0o0o

"I'm okay, I'm okay – you guys heard the doctor, it was only a nick!"

As Shark fussed about J-unit's leader with uncharacteristic tenderness, the group of four men remained scattered about the cramped hospital room. Lynx peeled back his blanket in order to get away from Shark's prying hands, revealing his pale blue hospital clothes. Tiger snickered at the normally uniformed man, making a comment about how powder blue was really his color.

Lynx stood up, flicking Tiger in the forehead as he passed him. "Do you want water? Can I get it for you?" "Sit _down, _Shark, Christ. Unless you want to go to into the bathroom and _pee_ for me, I'm afraid this is a one-man mission."

A minute later and the three men were left milling about the room, Tiger exploring the machines with his eyes and Shark snatching up the paper on Lynx's vitals to ensure all the numbers were in order.

Hawk remained in his chair next to Lynx's bed, brooding. Eventually Tiger couldn't help but crane his neck to scrutinize the man, frowning at his distant expression. "Hawk?"

Hawk's emerald eyes flickered instantly over to Tiger, but he otherwise did not move. Tiger scratched the back of his head. "You're awfully quiet…" he began anxiously. Shark snorted, flipping to the second page of his clipboard.

"Like that's anything new," he grunted. Tiger paid him no mind, instead focusing his worried attentions to the man in front of him.

"After all, you're the one who found him…"

He was talking, of course, about Lynx in the forest. Hawk shook off the notion.

"No – I am not thinking about that."

"Then what are you thinking about?" J-unit's youngest member asked. Outside the room, a nurse passed the door before doing a double take and peering in again. She promptly swooned and collapsed, much to the annoyance of J-unit.

"Wear a paper bag, would you?" Shark barked.

"I will not," Hawk replied waspishly. Tiger tapped his knee tenaciously. Hawk looked away.

"Let's wait until Lynx comes back."

Right then, the door to the bathroom opened and Lynx stepped out, mindlessly wiping his hands on his blue pants. Shark stood up, pointing out angrily,

"You'll catch a cold, doing that!"

Lynx rolled his eyes, sitting down on the edge of the bed and glancing between Tiger and Hawk. "I'm back; what's going on?"

The group paused, waiting for Hawk to come forward with something. Hawk robotically began running his hands up and down his thighs, focusing on the linoleum with the intent to light it on fire.

"Well?" Shark prompted impatiently.

"I saw… something, that night," Hawk started uncomfortably. He was speaking in low and quiet tones, forcing the three to lean in towards him. "Something I wish I hadn't walked in on."

Tiger's eyes were the size of dinner plates. Lynx peered at him in open curiosity. "Does it have something to do with why Alex Rider ran away?"

Hawk's chin snapped up. His hands stopped on his knees, and instead his fingers began curling into the casual jean fabric. "Yes."

Lynx exhaled. "Oh, good. See, that makes sense. I was completely baffled to hear he ran away."

"Right, you spoke with him, didn't you?" Shark asked, reclining in the other chair.

"I did – and when K-unit was brought up, he told me he was relieved to hear they were there. So when I heard that he'd bolted I thought, how is that possible? This happened after I was shot, yes, Hawk?"

Shark and Tiger both winced at the direct reference to Lynx's injury, while Hawk just nodded. "Thought so. Care to enlighten us, then?"

Lynx's flippant attitude seemed to give Hawk a little more confidence (as it usually did). So Hawk launched into the tale of heading towards the sound of gunshots and discovering Alex Rider sitting atop a man he had pinned, torturing and eventually killing the man with all the brutality a gun could muster.

"Christ," Tiger cut in, "why didn't you tell us this sooner?!"

"I haven't told anyone," Hawk explained. "I told K-unit that he made a break for it, but I didn't tell them about the dead man. They don't know any of that part."

"I still don't get why the kid ran away, though," Shark said quizzically. Hawk had an explanation for that ready as well.

"When I caught his attention, something in him seemed to… change. First the man beneath him whispered something in his ear. Then he up and stumbled right into a tree, stammering out something along the lines of 'that was real'."

"So he's bat-shit crazy then," Shark concluded logically. The three soldiers turned their eyes to Lynx, who rather than emphatically agreeing with his medic, remained thoughtfully silent.

"I'm not sure we should be writing him off as crazy so soon," he said. "When I talked to him he seemed perfectly coherent, if not on his last legs and in at least a formidable amount of pain."

"So what happened?"

"Wait – _Eagle!"_ Tiger exclaimed. Three pairs of eyes landed on the small man.

"What's he got to do with this?" Lynx asked.

"Eagle couldn't on the mission because he'd drugged himself, remember?"

"Not really," Shark mumbled gruffly, scratching his lower back. Tiger rolled his eyes.

"Why would Eagle just randomly drug himself?"

"Because he's an idiot?"

Tiger scowled. "No, of course not! Eagle drugged himself with _the_ drug! The same one that they used on _Alex!"_

Lynx started to nod. "Ahh, I see what you're saying now! So you think Alex must have been hallucinating when he attacked that man. Unfortunately that doesn't solve the problem of the threat Alex still poses to the people around him."

"Maybe he'll… stop hallucinating."

Lynx's eyes softened at Tiger's deflated form, placing a comforting hand on his head before turning back to Hawk. "If what you say is true, Hawk, then we know why Alex escaped from the scene."

"He was trying to protect K-unit," Hawk replied. "But the question is… do we tell them?"

* * *

0o0o0o

"I thought I told you not to wait up," Wolf said upon spotting Snake's sagging body pushed up against the bed frame. The exhausted man sent him a flat look. "You did. Clearly I did not listen."

Wolf pulled off his coat, hooking it onto the back of the door before half-climbing, half-crawling onto the opposing bed. In Snake's hand was some kind of paperback novel, cracked open to chapter one, page one. He probably hadn't gotten past the third word.

"Right. Well, I couldn't find Cub."

"Yes, I can see that."

Wolf shot him a look. "… But I'm not entirely unconvinced that Lana hasn't made some kind of contact with him. Just – my phone is charging, right? Or is that yours?"

"It's yours," Snake insured him of the small phone plugged into the wall between their beds. "Mine is in the corner over there."

"Good. And it's on? It's not on silent is it?"

"No, you'll hear it if it rings."

"Okay. Set the alarm for…"

The clock was flashing a bright green 9:30 at him. "… Noon."

"One-thirty, please."

Wolf blinked. "Right."

He'd been so set on pushing sleep aside in order to keep looking for Alex that he'd sort of forgotten about Snake's preference to actually function. The extra hours weren't a luxury anymore – they were a necessity. Especially since Wolf had just cost him an hour of sleep with his wild goose chase.

"I did tell you not to wait up."

"We _always_ wait up for one another."

He had a point there. "Fine. One-thirty then."

And after about ten seconds in dreamland, the alarm was bleating at them until they were stirring in their sheets, glaring at the neon-green 1:31 PM. Wolf brought his fist down onto the sleep button like the fist of God, rolling over so that his pillow covered his face. Snake gratefully drifted off again.

Apparently they both developed immunity to the alarm some time after that, because it wasn't until three that the door opened and in walked Fox and Eagle, looking somewhat refreshed and generally better-for-wear.

"They're still sleeping," Fox pointed out, dumbfounded. Eagle nodded.

"This is weird. Ah, Fox, please turn on the light – please."

Fox moved to brighten the room up, recognizing the undertone of _something_ in Eagle's voice. No matter what the man said, Fox knew he wasn't entirely recovered. He'd been awoken by his loud, jerky rustling twice. Snake reacted to the light with a groan, while Wolf remained unmoved by the change in luminance.

"Hold on, I'm gonna go get a glass of water," Fox snickered, and then Wolf was sitting up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"I'm 'wake, dammit," Wolf said groggily. Fox knew what to do to _really_ wake him up.

"It's three in the afternoon, Wolf."

Wolf bolted out of bed, grabbing his jeans and awkwardly dancing his way into them leg-by-leg. Then he pulled on his coat and was out the door before Snake had even retrieved a shirt from his backpack. Wolf reappeared a second later, grumbling quietly, "Forgot some stuff."

He was collecting the copies of Sanders and Kobayashi's files when Eagle inquired,

"We're splitting up, then?"

"And taking the usual directions, yes."

The usual directions referred to Wolf almost always taking the north end of an expanse of territory they might be required to cover, while Snake covered the south and Fox and Eagle took east and west, respectively. Wolf moved back into the doorway, pausing and turning to make his final request of, "Pass me my mobile."

Fox pitched the device at him, and Wolf's hand shot out to snatch it from the air before he was gone again.

Alone, the three men exchanged looks. Eagle's hand twitched and he took a step back in response to seemingly nothing.

"Eagle?" Fox inquired carefully. "Want to just sweep our ends together?"

In his haste, Wolf had forgotten that Eagle wasn't yet fit to drive a car again. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

"I'll do as wide a berth of the southern limits as I can," Snake promised, dragging a gun off the bedside table and sliding it into the back of his jeans. The three men nodded before following their leader's smoke trail out the door.

* * *

0o0o0o

Lawrence H. Finnegan lived in the north end of Carlisle, and was the only local to be on the drug developing team. The project's basing in Carlisle could well be attributed to him, for he was the lead developer and had begun experimenting before the final group had even been assembled for the first time. After the previous night and upon coming to the realization that he was the last man standing, Finnegan had fled to a hotel and checked in with cash, signing under a fake name. At noon, he'd awoken to a call on his hotel room phone. Finnegan had suppressed the urge to pee his pants in fear until eventually it stopped ringing. Ten seconds later, it began again.

"H-hello?" Finnegan answered, voice trembling outrageously. The line crackled, forfeiting clarity in order to be untraceable.

"Finnegan," a distorted, but nevertheless distinct voice answered him. Finnegan swallowed. It was Kurst.

"Yes," he confirmed in a whisper.

"I am still willing to complete part of our order if you are. The drug – with all documents outlining contents, effects and details attached – for half the original sum discussed."

Finnegan's eyes bulged. Half the sum to himself was more than the original split five ways. And without Alex Rider!

"Can you arrange to meet us with the samples for five 'o clock at 724 Oakland Place? We will let you in."

"… I'm not sure if…"

"Finnegan, direct your eyes into the mirror."

Finnegan's instantly flickered to the mirror hanging on the wall across from him, and he gave a loud gasp at what he saw. There, right between his eyebrows, was a small red dot. He froze, an instant sweat breaking on the back of his neck.

"If you move before this call is over, he pulls the trigger. Should you fail to appear with the requested items by 5 'o clock, we will have someone sent to find you and deliver the consequences. I look forward to seeing you soon."

_Click._

The phone fell uselessly from Finnegan's hand. For a moment he was sure the call had ended just as an earthquake began to shake Carlisle, only to realize it was merely his own body's violent trembling. He did not bother to check out of the hotel when he left, and when addressed by the secretary he ignored her. His movements were robotic; the roar of his car's engine automatic, and then he was driving calmly toward his home.

* * *

0o0o0o

Also approaching Finnegan's home was Wolf in a small red rent-a-car, which he'd charged to the very same credit card that K-unit's rooms were checked out under. He'd exited the city limits about five minutes back and had since begun heading through sparse expanses of land as winter demonstrated the final result of its ravishment on the country side: complete desolation. Wolf frowned at the flat fields of twigs and frostbitten dirt. April wasn't coming soon enough, he decided.

Eventually Wolf passed through a more forest-like region, and he probably would have assumed he'd missed a turn somewhere had he not been looking at the GPS also programmed into this car. Huge evergreens cast the road Wolf was travelling on in shadow, and the tall, lifeless grass framing the pot-holed road indicated what little activity went on here.

"Why the hell would a doctor want to live this far into the middle of fucking nowhere?" Wolf muttered, glancing down to consult his map. His turn was coming up, and he could now see as the trees cleared and more hills emerged a very large old farmhouse on the horizon.

The path leading up to it was full of pot holes, and the air filtering through the top of Wolf's window was crisp and nippy. A few mostly-barren trees appeared just ahead, and then as Wolf slowly moved past them, something he hadn't seen before came into view: a car.

Wolf pulled over and flicked off the ignition, exiting the vehicle and inspecting the driveway incredulously. The last thing he'd expected was to actually find Finnegan in his own home. His file had listed him as uninvolved with any women, so Wolf assumed he'd be waltzing into the home looking for clues, not Finnegan himself.

He walked the rest of the way, cursing the front steps for their loud creaking. The door wasn't locked. Wolf slipped into the home as soundlessly as possible, instantly melting into the corner to listen for going-ons before proceeding.

The house was totally silent except for the thumping of a moth against the window, so the first thing that he really noticed was the smell – it was thick with that same aged scent one might catch a whiff of in a used bookstore – but also something else he couldn't quite identify. Dust microcosms floated through the rustic space, illuminated by the flat light coming through the skylight. He was standing to the right of the living room, which looked like it hadn't been entered since Finnegan had moved in, and at the base of a tall, narrow wooden staircase. Creeping forward down the hall, Wolf turned into an old-fashioned kitchen, complete with a belly-aching refrigerator and paint-chipped ornate cupboards left over from last century.

Wolf glanced into the sink, finding a little bit of water clinging to the sides and corners. Upon turning the knob, he found it to be useless – no water came out of the tap no matter which way he turned it. He frowned, perplexed, and then caught his first sound – a very faint clang.

Wolf reentered the hallway, only this time when he passed the staircase, he noticed a short door built into the side of it. Carefully prying it open, Wolf ducked inside, finding himself at the top of another staircase – one that curved halfway down, suggesting a large basement.

Now that he'd opened the door he could hear other things, too – the rustle of papers, scattered footsteps, even the high-pitched whistle of what was unmistakably something boiling. Extracting his gun, Wolf quietly ghosted his way over the steps, peaking around the corner when he hit the landing.

Every last trace of the antique rural country house disappeared at this level. Finnegan had turned the entire basement into a badly-ventilated laboratory. It looked like a larger-scale version of the one in the basement of the pharmacy – most of the machines were shut off and inactive, but in the corner a few Bunsen burners were flaring up to heat substances pink and yellow and green – and finally in the largest basin, clear. Finnegan stood with his back to Wolf, hunched over what appeared to be a small laptop sitting on top of a makeshift table made of files and papers. Hushed talking could be heard coming from the laptop, but it was too far away for Wolf to make out any of the words.

"Turn around and release anything in your hands," Wolf ordered coldly, stepping out into clear view. Finnegan's movements froze, and his body went rigid.

Wolf's eyes narrowed. "Turn around!"

Finnegan spun to face Wolf, his hand holding a beaker full of an unidentifiable liquid. He stared wide-eyed at Wolf.

"You said five 'o clock!" he exclaimed shrilly, stuffing a hand into his overgrown gray hair in distress. "Five 'o clock, _five 'o clock!"_

The statement reeked of Scorpia, and from there, Wolf began connecting the dots. Finnegan had likely been contacted by Scorpia and told to collect everything in his possession pertaining to the drug. Five 'o clock had to be when they'd ordered him to have it prepared by if he wanted to live – which, knowing Scorpia, didn't mean much at all. They'd kill him without a second thought upon receiving what they wanted, simply to ensure they didn't leave behind any "loose ends".

"Kurst changed his mind," Wolf carefully played along, unsure how much information he might be able to extract from the man before it became obvious that he wasn't from Scorpia.

"I need more time than this! Please!"

"How much time?" Wolf demanded. Finnegan's trembling hands caused a little bit of liquid to splash and dribble down the side of the beaker, falling to the floor and instantly fizzling out of existence.

"Th-th-three hours!" Finnegan wailed. "I said I would be there!"

Wolf lowered his gun carefully. "You remember the meeting place?"

Finnegan audibly swallowed. "O-Oakland Place. Oakland Place."

Wolf nodded. "Good. Thanks."

Then he raised his gun again. Finnegan screeched, stumbling back into his table and swiping a steaming red flask right off the burner before suspending it in the air. "Don't shoot! DON'T SHOOT OR WE _BOTH _DIE!"

Wolf took a step away from the madman, unprepared for his outburst. "What the hell are you–"

"HNO3," Finnegan began mumbling wildly, speaking faster than Wolf had ever heard, "also known as _aqua fortis_ or nitric acid highly corrosive strong mineral acid with a density of one point fifty-one grams per milliliter and a molar mass of sixty-three point zero-one boiling point of eighty-three degrees celcius and melting point of negative forty-two degrees Celsius acidity of negative one point four and refractive index of one point three-nine-seven sixteen point five degrees celcius reacts violently or explosively with quantities of N2H4 _also known as hydrazine_."

Finnegan's hand holding the beaker jerked, holding up the clear liquid and exposing its distinct ammonia-like scent. _Hydrazine_, Wolf logically concluded once he'd figured out that the man _wasn't_ speaking in tongues – just scientific terms. _Jesus Christ, what the hell have I gotten myself into?_

"Calm down," Wolf said. Finnegan was twitching with lunacy, his gloved hands gripping the two glass bottles so tightly that Wolf wasn't sure he wouldn't diffuse the whole situation himself just by accidentally crushing one.

"You drove me to this!" he howled. "You all drove me to this! I just want out, I want out, I _want out!"_

Wolf's heart pounded behind his rib cage. "Finnegan–"

"I didn't know what I was getting into I didn't know I didn't know but they're all dead now and I didn't know–"

Anger seized Wolf then. Insane with fear and guilt or _not_ insane with fear and guilt, Finnegan had known _exactly_ what he was doing when he agreed to help create the drug – as well as repeatedly test its effects on _his_ teammate.

"That's bullshit!" Wolf shouted. Finnegan stumbled back a few steps and shrieked louder than ever,

"I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T–"

The gunshot rang clear through the air. Finnegan cut off and swayed for a moment, glancing down in disbelief at the entrance wound on his chest. Wolf tore down the stairs, leaping over a table in his scramble to reach Finnegan. The chemist's eyes slid closed just as his grip fell slack and both glasses went plummeting to the floor.

Wolf's body fell hard against the concrete, his head coming down with a loud smack. For a moment all he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears, and he thought he must have been too late. Was he dead?

He opened his eyes.

There, not a foot away from his head, lay the broken remains of the hydrazine beaker. Two centimeters from the edge of the colorless pool was a small red puddle – nitric acid that had escaped from its beaker mid-fall.

With his eyes, Wolf followed his own outstretched arm to where his hand was clasped around the rest of the beaker. It was, for the most part, still full – although it burned like a bitch where it had come into contact with his hand. Hissing, Wolf dragged himself up into a standing position and deposited it onto the first countertop he could.

In the silence that followed, the words drifting from the laptop were louder and more pronounced than ever.

"… _are you saying?"_

Wolf sucked in a breath.

That was Alex's voice.

He turned toward the computer, leaning down to peer at the small screen. On the left side, a large electronic folder full of files could be seen, and on the right, mostly covered beneath the folder window, a video was playing. Wolf's hand slipped over the mouse, clicking the video into view.

The footage was in black and white, but the quality was well-defined: it was undeniably Alex. He was bound to a chair with rope – the same chair Wolf had passed when he was in the pharmacy.

_This is the footage from the drug's effects_, Wolf realized with startling clarity. _Finnegan was preparing this to send off to Scorpia.._. His stomach churned, and the adrenaline already pumping through Wolf's veins lit up like a fuse. In the sharp image Alex had his head down, and for the most part he wasn't speaking – except for now and again when he'd respond to seemingly nothing.

Alex's head jerked to the side, and then he began shaking it. It was like watching somebody have a nightmare – reacting to invisible prompts and stimuli with an expression changing from angry to distressed to despondent for no visible reason.

"_N-no,"_ Alex stammered out to the empty room. He was shaking his head again. Then, drawing a hard flinch from Wolf, Alex suddenly cried out. He started to struggle against his ropes, craning his neck away from whatever – or whoever – was standing in front of him. The look of pure panic on Alex's face right then almost did Wolf in for good – but then the blonde slumped down into blissful unawareness in his terrible version of waking up.

Wolf's jaw clenched as the video cut to black. His eyes involuntarily moved back to the other window – the folder. Each file was named something following the last – , , . Wolf scrolled, unable to deny his horror any longer as the numbers hit the double digits. The videos went all the way up to fourteen.

Wolf's pulse picked up, and he began breathing faster and faster. Wolf had always _looked_ like the type to struggle with anger management, but in reality, he was fairly even-tempered – he just often came off as an inconsiderate ass.

However, right at that moment, Wolf redefined the term _seeing red._

It was extremely dangerous to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of a homemade laboratory – especially when it was the homemade laboratory of a dead mad scientist. Unfortunately, irrationality comes as somewhat of a prerequisite for rage attacks.

Wolf grabbed the first substance he could get his hands on and hurtled it with a roar at the wall, reveling in the sound of the glass shattering. Then he spun around and grabbed the next one, smashing it over Finnegan's head and watching emptily as the chemicals began to erode at the hair and flesh. Next, he seized the man's stool and sent it crashing into the counter across from him, destroying the contents with a satisfying crash and boom.

All of his helplessness was turning itself over to Wolf's fury, which he was allowing to bubble over with little intervention. Nobody could see him. His only witness was a corpse. Besides, the only thing he had left to do was scream. Finnegan was dead and Alex was just as crazy as the dead man and Scorpia was just about ready to waltz off into the sunset like they usually did.

So he erupted into curses and shouts and continued to destroy the laboratory with his bare hands until eventually two compounds reacted and a Bunsen burner found its way into the mix. The north end of the room was completely covered in flames by the time Wolf finally paused in his rampage, shoulders heaving with the force of his frustration. He stared at the fiery display, his hands balled up tightly into fists just itching to sink themselves into the closest thing within reach (which was, at this point, anything that could move).

It was always them.

He ground his teeth together.

_It was always Scorpia._

Wolf snatched up the laptop and began scooping papers into his arms, suddenly aware of how close this place was to exploding. He didn't glance at Finnegan's body as he passed it, instead scrambling to get up the stairs as fast as he could without looking back. Then he was running through the house and stumbling down the front stairs. Wolf booked it the rest of the way to the car, tossing everything onto the backseat before sliding the key into the ignition. He'd made it halfway down the gravel road when the house exploded behind him, a toxic and deadly demonstration of retribution straight from hell.

The very same hell he intended to bring to straight Scorpia in Oakland Place.

* * *

0o0o0o

Has anybody caught onto my obvious obsession with Lana's hands? I just noticed it – they're mentioned a lot. Huh.

Exactly three weeks later! Harah! So the last three chapters have each been a little longer than the last… this one is around thirteen thousand words. Jesus. It's a wonder any of you finish them! They're going to get shorter, really.

I am not one hundred percent sure what direction I'm going to take the story from here, but of course I have my ideas. I'd love to hear what you guys think.

For anyone who doesn't like her, sorry for all the Lana. She is somewhat necessary at this moment in time. If you _do_ like her, great!

I'd like to thank everyone for the feedback I received (as usual you're all much to generous with your words, love you all c:), although I only got about half as many reviews for last chapter as I did for the one before it and I'm fully prepared to beg and bribe for more. All I want in this vast, cruel word is to talk to _you_. We'll have a nice little chat, just you and me, laptop-to-laptop. You'll tell me what you thought of the chapter. I'll ask you what your sign is, ask you about your relationship with your parents. We'll connect. Maybe we'll have a picnic if the weather permits. And by then we'll be so madly in love that I won't be able to deny you a single thing. That's when you'll lean in and whisper in my ear, "_Update. Update now." _And I will.

… _LOVE MEEE_

(To be honest, I kinda need it right now. I'm taking Writing 100 and I love the course but it's kind of making me hate everything and anything that I write. Hopefully this will pass…)

It would turn me to jelly to hit eight hundred reviews this chapter. Strawberry jelly. No clownin' around. I will update on the mark.

**Next chapter:** Alex is faced with everything he's been avoiding, and Wolf continues the trend of madness via losing his mind.


	28. Madness

_It was always them. _

_He ground his teeth together._

_**It was always Scorpia.**_

_Wolf snatched up the laptop and began scooping papers into his arms, suddenly aware of how close this place was to exploding. He didn't glance at Finnegan's body as he passed it, instead scrambling to get up the stairs as fast as he could without looking back. Then he was running through the house and stumbling down the front stairs. Wolf booked it the rest of the way to the car, tossing everything onto the backseat before sliding the key into the ignition. He'd made it halfway down the gravel road when the house exploded behind him, a toxic and deadly demonstration of retribution straight from hell._

_The very same hell he intended to bring to Scorpia in Oakland Place._

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 28

**Madness**

Lana released a tired sigh as she flicked the switch on the side of the coffee machine. It was around Alex's seventh hour of sleep when she heard a thump emerge from the guest room, followed by a loud, angry snarl. Collecting her hair into her hands, she carefully pinned it up against the back of her head before ascending the stairs and pushing the door open to reveal one pissed-off Alex Rider.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded furiously, yanking his good arm up and down. The jangling of metal hitting metal sounded as a result. A small pair of loose silver handcuffs locked Alex's wrist to the headboard of the bed.

"Relax," she told him with an eye roll, opening the door of the bedside table and drawing a small key out from the bottom. She unlocked the handcuffs easily, and Alex, now freed, put a good eight feet's distance between them.

"It was only for while you were sleeping," Lana explained, turning to return to the main level. "I didn't want you waking up in the middle of the night and leaving out the window because you were panicked and couldn't remember where you were or how you got there."

Alex sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. In all honesty, that was exactly how he'd woken up. Mid-nightmare and drenched in sweat, Alex had thrown himself off the bed, only to land sprawled out on the floor tied up in his sheets and unable to get more than two inches away from the piece of furniture.

"Yeah, well," Alex muttered, following her, "don't try anything like that again."

She shrugged, promising nothing, and if Alex had had _any_ other option than to stay with her until he was fit to find another hideout, he would have left on that principle alone. Nevertheless, his thoughts were soon interrupted by the sweet smell of something cooking, and before Lana could so much as wish him "bon appétit" Alex was darting into the kitchen.

Lana smirked. "Hungry, are you?"

"How do you think _you'd _feel after not eating for five days?" he shot back, passing her in an instant in order to reach the room first. She frowned.

"They didn't feed you?"

"Not even scraps of stale bread," he said, reaching out to grab a couple slices of toast that had popped up in the toaster while they were descending down the stairs. "All they gave me was water, and not in a cup – they poured it over my head. I had to try and catch it in my mouth when I was too parched."

Lana didn't like the seed of anger that decided to make its presence known in her stomach right then. She shouldn't be feeling anything in response to Alex Rider's suffering. He was just another part of her mission.

Alex glanced back at her, large brown eyes curious in lieu of her sudden lapse of silence. She bit her lip and stared down at the floor for another second. _Just another part of the mission._

"Are you okay? Is it fine if I eat everything in your kitchen? I'm going to, anyway."

"Well, thanks for the heads up," she replied dryly, shaking her head to clear her thoughts as Alex opened the fridge door and unceremoniously dragged out anything he could eat without having to spend too long cooking it. Four eggs were already sizzling on the stove, jammed between six slices of groan-inducing bacon. It didn't take long for Alex to get to work preparing a triple-decker sandwich, reaching over and peeling away a fried egg with his mummified right hand. He seemed to be doing as much as he could without using his left.

"How is your arm doing today?"

Alex didn't glance away from his sandwich. "Fine. Yours?"

She shot him a short glare. "I'm serious."

"It feels great!" he waved it above his head for emphasis without looking away from his plate. "Good as new."

"We're going to have to go over to the hospital to put it in a proper cast – you realize that, right?"

"Hmm…" he considered through a mouthful. Alex settled himself onto one of the barstools of the kitchen island, conking both elbows down on the stone countertop as he began the task of working away at his monster sandwich. He swallowed the half-chewed bite whole. "Hospital… I don't think so."

"Do you want to have a broken arm forever?"

"I'll call someone to fix it. I know people."

There wasn't a doubt in Lana's mind that Alex did have more than a few under-the-table surgeons and physicians programmed into his phone. Unfortunately, Alex a) didn't have his phone and b) wasn't in Chelsea. So she knew it as an evasion tactic as soon as it left his lips.

"Not in Carlisle you don't. Here, you only know me. So you're going to let me help you."

He sent her a dirty look over the top of his sandwich. "I'm here by choice."

"Don't kid yourself," Lana scoffed, flipping one of the eggs. She eased it onto the spatula before sliding it daintily onto Alex's plate a second later. "You're here because you have nowhere else to go. There's no way in hell you're here because–"

"Don't get me wrong," Alex snapped, "I'm not here because I love your company. But I can leave anytime I choose. And I will, if you keep pushing me."

"I was assigned to get you home safely," she reminded him coolly.

"I don't care what you were assigned."

They glared at each other in open animosity, and the electricity crackling between them might have blown a fuse if not for the oven timer's convenient beeping. Lana brightened.

"Pound cake's ready!"

"You made _pound cake?"_ Alex moaned, turning in the stool to follow her movements with his eyes. She slid her fingers into a pair of oven mitts and extracted the white porcelain dish, placing it to cool on the stovetop. Alex eyed it like a starving bear.

"There's plenty to eat until it's cooled off," she told him, and Alex leaned back from where he'd been half-hovered above it. Lana occupied herself by creating her own breakfast dish – a green salad with baby tomatoes – and found herself unconsciously avoiding any use of a slicing or paring knife. It took her about five minutes to settle down across from him on the island, and when she finally stole a glance at the ravenous seventeen-year-old, she found him not eating at all.

Alex had polished off the sandwich quickly enough, but he hadn't reached for anything else. Instead he sat silent and mostly still, bowed over the table with his fingers curling into the edge of the countertop. He was staring intently at the dark crystalline granite, looking to be seeing something else entirely.

Lana held her fork poised atop her dish, unwilling to tear her gaze from the blonde. Eventually his eyes narrowed and he grimaced, whipping his head to the side so that he was looking out the kitchen window. A minute passed and neither of them moved or said a word, until Lana broke the silence.

"Are you still hallucinating?"

"No."

"Yes you are."

"If you know then why'd you ask?"

"So you admit it."

Alex reached forward and usurped her salad, plucking the fork from her fingers and using it to stab a baby tomato. She didn't move to stop him.

"That drug they forced you to take," she began carefully, despite the look of disrupted anger that appeared on his face in response, "I have a sample of it. We're going to run some tests and find out exactly what it's made of. From there it'll be quick work to create a vaccine and an antidote."

"Looking forward to it," he responded simply, taking a bite of salad. There was another pause between them. The room was thick with the aroma of breakfast and pound cake.

"What did you hallucinate about?" she finally asked bluntly. He choked on a piece of tomato, pounding his chest to dislodge it before swallowing.

"Bad question?"

His eyes were dark and stormy. "I wonder?"

"It would help us to know."

"The only thing it would _help_ is your misplaced curiosity, you old hag."

"Ouch. It was only a question."

"You," he shot back at her abruptly, and she did a small double take. His fork dug into a balsamic-soaked spinach leaf, and he hastily stuffed his mouth to avoid looking at her.

"Me?"

"Yes. The first thing I can remember hallucinating about was you."

"Pervert."

He swallowed before lifting his hand to rub his jaw. "Lana, if it were that kind of hallucination, do you really think I would be complaining?"

Lana was fully aware of how uncommonly gorgeous she was. This brought back in her mind Alex's flirting from before he'd been moved to the pharmacy – before she was kicked out of the group, and Alex was still being treated_. __"Are you here to provide me with a special service?"_ she could remember him asking playfully.

"Dr. Feelgood, isn't that what you called me?"

"Cute, right?"

"Yes. Well then, what were you hallucinating about us?"

He took another bite of salad, chewing slowly. He seemed pensive. "We were in a… kitchen."

There was an awkward moment of silence as the two of them both recognized the repetition of events. Alex's face took on a newfound queasiness. "You were trying to feed me carrots."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Lana commented, standing up and moving to turn off the stove.

"But then you threatened to cut off my finger and feed me that instead. Fingernails were added later, if I can remember correctly."

She made a face. "Ew. Did you pass out after that?"

He nodded, looking down at his empty plate. She seemed to read his mind as she dumped the remainder of the pan's content onto his plate – three eggs and six pieces of bacon. "For a little while."

"What did you see after that?"

He began eating again, and sensing he wasn't going to answer, Lana spoke up once more.

"You know, they don't tell people it helps to talk about things just to mess with them."

"I wouldn't know. I've always been told _not_ to talk about what happens to me."

"Well then, allow me to get you all caught up: they say some of the leading causes of PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder – are military combat, car accidents, assault, kidnapping or torture. Any of this sound familiar to you?"

"I don't have post-traumatic stress disorder."

"Like hell you don't. Where do you think that handy-dandy little defense mechanism of yours came from?"

Alex was quiet, burying his face in the task of eating. She continued to rattle off facts like accusations, causing Alex to twitch and curl further in on himself with each point thrown at him.

"PTSD can cause victims to relive the events or emotions of their trauma on a near-daily basis, getting in the way of daily life, work and relationships. Other symptoms may include feelings of guilt, nightmares, difficulty sleeping, jumpiness, constantly staying alert to threats, trust issues, and _avoiding people–"_

"Those aren't symptoms of my captivity, Lana! Those are symptoms of my life!"

She broke off, watching him closely. Alex was now basically hunched over the counter, white hands curled into large fists as he allowed his fringe to encompass his eyes, hiding them from view. It brought her back to when Alex was hiding in the closet, balled up under the coats and beneath the layers of shadows that concealed him from her sight.

He looked now like he was more on the verge of an anxiety attack than anything else. "I'm a fucking spy! _Don't_ tell me you don't feel all those same things on a near-daily basis. _You_ of all people should be able to understand why I can't wrap up my twisted brain with a nice little ribbon under some fancy title like PTSD! PTSD is practically a prerequisite for this _stupid fucking job!"_

She was taken aback by the venom in his voice. "Alex…"

"No!" he cried, standing up and slamming his hands down onto the counter. She remained sitting, gazing up at his tempestuous expression. _"Stop_ asking me so many questions_. Stop_ trying to manipulate me. I just need people to stop trying to _control_ me and _use_ me for _five seconds_ and _then_ maybe I'll stop exhibiting the symptoms of bloody _post-traumatic stress disorder!"_

He kicked the stool away from himself and prepared to storm out of the room, but on a hunch, Lana reached out and caught his wrist. She left her body open to retaliation, but instead of violently lashing out like she expected him to, he just froze, breathing hard and refusing to face her.

"You need help," she told him softly.

"So you've said," he muttered back, turning to peek at her from behind his tousled hair. He was currently sporting a bed head like no other.

"I didn't mean to make you angry."

"Well, you did. Let go of me."

"I don't want you to leave this room."

He jerked his wrist out of her hand. "I _do_ want to leave this room – how about that?"

"You haven't eaten enough."

"Lana," he ground out, "somehow it feels like you haven't heard a word I've said all morning. I think it's time for me to go."

"Wait!" she shouted, standing up so that they were face to face – or almost, since he had a good six or seven inches on her. "I–"

"You know what?" he cut her off with a scowl. "I think I've heard enough 'I's from you."

"Alex, you're making a huge mistake…"

"_Am I?_ Please tell me how you know this, O Great Omniscient Being."

"Stop!" she spat out, reaching the height of her own frustration and roughly grabbing his arm. Alex immediately wrenched it off, pulling her hand into his own iron-tight grip and twisting it so she was spun around and slammed down onto the island counter-top, her nose inches away from the empty salad bowl. Alex leaned down so he was speaking to her just above her ear.

"Don't make me hurt you."

"You wouldn't," she hissed, refraining from giving into the desire to struggle out of the vulnerable position. "You wouldn't hurt me."

"Lana, the only reason I agreed to come here is because I am _okay_ with hurting you. I thought that was obvious."

"Maybe you were before," she returned quickly, her mind racing for ideas, "but not anymore. Admit it, Alex. We're _friends_ now–"

He twisted her arm against her back and then slammed her weight into the granite again – hard enough to hurt this time. "I won't be manipulated by you, so save your goddamned breath. If I want to go off into the world and make my own bad decisions, then I'm going to! And if you stand in my way, I'll just shove you out of it! How much longer is it going to take for you to understand that? I am _done_ being anyone's pawn!"

Finally – _finally – _Lana was silent. They stayed that way – Lana's slim, darkly-clad body pressed down atop the countertop and Alex's much larger patched-up form lingering just above, holding her in the position – for a few seconds until Alex suddenly let go, withdrawing and heading toward the door. She stood there motionlessly, unable to deny how helpless she was to stop him from leaving any longer when the phone rang.

Alex turned around, his cool expression commanding as he glanced between Lana and the insistent telephone. He sighed. "Answer it, then."

Lana hesitantly picked up the phone, identifying the voice right off the bat.

"_Lana."_

"…Wolf," she greeted cordially. Alex stepped closer in order to listen in on the conversation, fingers twitching at his sides. "Where are you?"

"_Just outside Carlisle. Finnegan's house is gone."_

"Gone? What do you mean, _gone?"_

"_Blown to dust. Oh, and Finnegan is also dead."_

Both Lana and Alex were frowning now; dread building in their chests from the numb way that Wolf was speaking. "Wolf…" she started hesitantly, "what did you do?"

"_Guess I lost my marbles a little, Lan. I took some things. Found something really interesting. Videos of Alex."_

Alex's eyes widened.

Lana cursed under her breath, speaking urgently. "Wolf – where are you going right now? Wolf…!"

"_I'm heading over for a little rendez-vous with Scorpia. 'It's not over', remember?"_

"Wolf, I swear to _God _if you don't pull over this second and _wait for me_–"

"Videos," Alex whispered, a look of horror overtaking his features. "No no no no nonono Lana hand me the phone!"

"_No time for that, unfortunately…"_

"Are you alone?"

"Lana _hand me the phone!"_

"_Couldn't risk dragging the guys into this one. Especially not after what happened to Lynx."_

"If you're not going to wait for me then at least tell me where this meeting is taking place."

"He's driving to his _death!"_ Alex snarled, reaching over the woman's shoulder to try and snatch the phone from her. She dexterously danced away from him.

"What time do you have to be there for? Wolf?"

"_Five o' clock."_

Lana glanced over at the clock. It was 4:49.

"_Bye."_ Wolf hung up just as Alex finally managed to seize the phone, clutching it against the side of his head and shouting desperately,

"Wolf?! Wolf! Damn it!"

He threw the phone to the ground without waiting around to watch it skid across the floor and disappear under the table. Lana tailed him as he marched toward the staircase.

"You can't go, Alex! They may well believe you to be dead!"

"They're bound to find out eventually," he growled, ignoring her.

"You're not fit to fight!"

"I'm _better _than fit."

"Alex _please!_"

He took off in a run up the stairs, grinding his teeth against the pain his side. He hadn't had a chance to let Lana clean the wounds and switch out the bandages, so he was sure they'd be acting up tonight. Unfortunately, he did could not afford the luxury of worrying about that. He reached her office before she did and locked the door behind him, ignoring the furious banging of her fists on the other side.

"Let me in! _Alex let me inside!"_

Then he began yanking open drawers until one revealed a handgun, and – conveniently – her car keys.

There was no time for anything else. He grabbed the drapes and ripped them down, tying one end to a desk leg before shoving the tall French windows aside and leaping out, scaling the story in less than five seconds. He made it to the bottom right as Lana managed to get the door open, and pulled the makeshift rope down with him so she was left leaning out the open windows.

"Look at you!" she shouted. "You're wearing nothing but bandages and boxers!"

"That's how the pros do it, Lana," he called back as he unlocked her car and slid inside. Lana let out a scream of frustration.

"_Damn you!"_

He was speeding down the next street over by the time she made it to the bottom of the stairs.

0o0o0o

* * *

Oakland Place turned out to be a small, largely barren street on the outskirts of Carlisle as well, with only three buildings populating it – factories that had gone out of use, if the boarded-up windows and old, moss-covered signs were anything to go off of. Two of them obviously hadn't been visited by a soul in years, except maybe teenage taggers looking for a place to mess around. The third was dark save for a single window on what looked to be the fourth floor, which glowed with a white, fluorescent hue.

"Bingo," Wolf whispered, pulling over and exiting the vehicle. He knew they were watching and he was sure that they had recognized him as someone other than Finnegan. However, being watched meant that they could also see the laptop and binder of files in his arms, so he figured he was safe for the moment.

The main doors to the third building were unlocked, but the hallway he entered was dimly lit by the sky outside. The staircase was windowless so he had to do some feeling around, but he made due. The lack of windows also prevented him from seeing the car that was visible only for a second at the end of the road before it turned and took a detour.

When Wolf finally reached the fourth floor, he was greeted by a single man standing at the top of the stairs. He had icy blue eyes and a very straight-backed disposition.

"Who are you?" he asked abruptly.

"Doesn't matter. I have everything you wanted right here," Wolf replied.

The man's eyes narrowed in distrust, but he led Wolf along anyway. The illuminated room was at the very end of a long, narrow hall, which had about six windows total; three on either side. It was dusty and unlike any of the places they'd been led to in any "meetings" with the bad guys – a temporary solution, he thought. This was fairly unplanned, which meant he didn't have to worry about cameras or traps.

They made it to the end of the hallway, and when the doors opened, Wolf's eyes hit exactly the person he wanted to see: Kurst.

Just behind the dark-haired man stood the tall, thin form of Gallagher, who looked nervous as usual. Kurst stared at Wolf for about ten seconds before announcing,

"Shoot him."

Guns were readied just as Wolf called, "That's not a very good idea. If I die, so does everyone in this room."

The four armed thugs in the room hesitated. Kurst narrowed his eyes.

"Will we now?" he drawled in his thickly accented voice. His voice was as soft as ever, but piercing – like he was so sure of his own authority that he didn't need to do a single thing more than whisper to command obedience.

In response, Wolf unzipped his jacket with a flourish, revealing a complex circuitry of wires ranging from black to red to blue. There was an uncomfortable shuffling of feet, but before anyone could say a word, Wolf was speaking.

"There is a bomb attached to my chest that detonates if my heart stops beating. Besides that, the computer there is locked, and I'm the only one who knows how to unlock it."

"You're bluffing," Gallagher accused in a hiss. The room they were in was frigid with tension as each of its seven occupants evaluated their options. In the end, only Kurst's word was law, and Wolf snapped back,

"Try me and find out."

"Where's Fin–"

"Dead," Wolf replied. "And all of his research is destroyed other than what I've brought here."

Gallagher fell silent. Eventually, Kurst spoke again, still in the hushed, high voice of a crouching predator trying to decide if he should kill his prey now or wait to see if he might gain something more beforehand.

"What do you want? For the information and your life, that is. Why have you come here?"

Wolf was waiting for him to ask that question. In the pit of his stomach, excitement began to bubble hysterically, crawling up the inside of his chest as a smirk overtook his lips. He rolled back onto the balls of his feet, stretching his arms over his head and yawning a little.

"Why am I here?" he repeated. "Pretty simple, really. I'm here to kill _you."_

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex was racing down the halls, skidding around corners and habitually slipping on the dusty floor. He was panting hard, and his side was pounding with strain from his twisting and turning, but Alex couldn't be paid to slow down in that moment. Wolf had just gone to meet Scorpia. Stupid fucking Wolf had just waltzed right into a pit of no return.

"Idiot!" Alex roared for what felt like the fiftieth time, bounding up the stairs. At some point the bandages on his arms had become loose, so combining the strands of gauze billowing out behind him with his half-naked state, Alex looked somewhat like an escaped mental patient.

Fourth floor – finally. Shooting down the hall, he let out a battle cry and slammed shoulder-first into the door, tearing it from its hinges and sending it straight into Wolf, who was promptly flattened under it like a pancake. Then Alex fell hard onto the wooden plank, winding Wolf further and causing multiple things to happen at once.

0o0o0o

"_He's __**what?**__" _Snake exclaimed shrilly.

"He's meeting with Scorpia right now!" Lana relayed quickly, tearing down the street in her neighbor's car. Rather than hotwiring the vehicle, she'd chosen instead to break through the kitchen window and take the keys right off the counter. "And Alex is right behind him."

"C-Cub is? How do you–"

"_Not_ important, Snake," cut him off. "Oakland Place – and bring K-unit, would you!"

"_Fucking Wolf – _gotcha."

0o0o0o

_Pretty simple, really. I'm here to kill __**you.**_

Wolf had just enough time to spin around and tear a gun from the closest thug's hands before pivoting and aiming right at Kurst's head. Four guns fired. Five men dropped. One door burst open.

"_WOLF!"_

Wolf's body was thrown to the floor as something hard and heavy crashed into him from above, sending him sprawling. Kurst's head exploded in a gory demonstration of blood, and two of the unidentified Scorpia men shot each other by accident. They'd been aiming for Wolf, who had been standing evenly between them, but had fired a millisecond after Wolf went down, causing the bullets to bury themselves into the next object in the line of fire – each other.

Above Wolf's head, which was currently pressed steadfastly against the cold floor, more shooting was occurring. Part of the weight left Wolf's back, and he heard a few noises of contact as physical combat ensued. Trying to blink away the ringing in his head, Wolf eased his palms back underneath his chest so as to try and lift himself back up, only to feel another weight crash back down on top of him, spraining both his wrists. He found himself flattened once more.

"I thought you were dead!" Gallagher shrieked.

And then a voice Wolf knew very well replied in a violent snarl,

"_Your mistake_."

A blood-curdling scream followed, only to be cut off a moment in. There was a thud, and then whispers from the other side of the room – the last thug standing.

"P-p-p-please don't…" Wolf heard. Footsteps sounded through the room, loud and echoing in the unseeing silence after the short, condensed massacre.

"P-please." An echo of the first pathetic plea.

Wolf readied his body and then placed all his strength into an upheaval, pushing the door off of him and stumbling back up onto his feet. Alex was crouched in front of the whispering man, his gun pressed so far back into the man's mouth that he was gagging.

Wolf stared, disorientated. "…Cub?"

There was a beat of silence.

And then was Alex instantly letting go of the gun, springing back onto his feet and spinning to face Wolf with his hands in the air like he'd been caught mid-crime. Wolf's mouth opened into a small 'o'.

Alex was breathing hard, and there was blood spatter littering the white tape around his chest as well as a little on his nose. His jaw was set stubbornly, and he was looking at Wolf like he'd never met him before in his life.

Wolf took a step forward, and Alex took a step back. "Keep away from me," Alex growled.

Wolf's eyebrows rose, glancing between Alex and then catatonic Scorpia henchman curled up against the wall. "That should be my line! Cub – why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

He was walking toward Alex now, steadily and without pause, and Alex slammed his back against the wall, spreading his hands over the surface like he was trying to keep them as far away from Wolf as possible. He seemed to be inching his way toward the corner, eyes wide and unmasked.

"Stop!" he shouted, freezing Wolf in his tracks.

"Cub," Wolf whispered in astonishment, his voice quiet and shaky. "I – I'm not going to hurt you! All I want is answers!"

Alex shook his head, shutting his eyes and whispering too quiet for Wolf to catch, "Please don't come any closer, I-I…"

His hands spasmed into fists, and he then he was launching himself toward the door – but Wolf was faster. The built man surged forward, snatching Alex's arm into his iron grip and yanking it toward him. He didn't foresee the backlash – how could he have?

Alex turned and planted a powerful kick right into Wolf's gut, who immediately released him before dropping to his knees. Alex dropped as well, seizing Wolf's shoulder to steady him and curling his hand into a fist. He had already cocked his arm back, ready to send Wolf to the floor a second time when Wolf dizzily caught his eye.

Still dazed from the kick, Wolf struggled to keep his eyes in focus. Something returned to Alex right then – a piece of humanity that seemed to have fled – and he looked like he was suffering from some kind of deep, internal pain. He started to lower his arm.

_Something's… wrong…._

"Alex! Let him go!"

Lana.

Two hands landed on Alex's shoulders, pulling him away from Wolf. _No,_ Wolf thought, desperately reaching in the direction that Alex had been thrown. Instead Lana took his place, holding Wolf's head in her hands and urgently staring into his eyes.

"Wolf? Are you okay? Did he–"

Wolf shoved her hands away, standing up and twisting around to catch Alex making another break for the door. "No!" he cried, stepping forward, but just then, back-up arrived.

Eagle caught Alex in the doorway, instantly pulling him into a hug. Alex's cloudy, militant mindset was just barely able to register this as a non-threat and therefore shut down, leaving Alex in its place. Chest heaving, Alex reached around Eagle's ribcage and clung to him tight as a koala bear, placing his chin on top of the just barely taller man's shoulder. He stared straight across the empty hallway as footsteps emerged from the stairwell, and Alex knew they belonged to the last two members of K-unit. They'd be here within seconds.

"Christ, it's really you," Eagle whispered warmly, strengthening his hold on the wayward teen. "After all this time – you're… oh, we can finally go _home…"_

Alex closed his eyes.

_Fuck._

0o0o0o

* * *

Well. I bet none of you saw that coming! *cough*

Shameless cliffie is shameless.

I was a wolf for Halloween, if anyone cares. With fluffy white ears and a purple tail that I made myself! Although my best friend did most of the work… what about you? I want to hear what everybody did for Halloween!

Two updates in one day, I am rocking!

And thank you all for the reviews! I didn't quite breach 800 reviews (T.T woe…) but I came close! If you could all take a moment to leave me your thoughts, you'll have a happy happy happy author on your hands! Come on, I lap it up…

**Next chapter:** not quite ready for the recovery quite yet, are you, Alex? The group says goodbye to Carlisle.


	29. Mind Over Matter

_Eagle caught Alex in the doorway, instantly pulling him into a hug. Alex's cloudy, militant mindset was just barely able to register this as a non-threat and therefore shut down, leaving Alex in its place. Chest heaving, Alex reached around Eagle's ribcage and clung to him tight as a koala bear, placing his chin on top of the just barely taller man's shoulder. He stared straight across the empty hallway as footsteps emerged from the stairwell, and Alex knew they belonged to the last two members of K-unit. They'd be here within seconds._

"_Christ, it's really you," Eagle whispered warmly, strengthening his hold on the wayward teen. "After all this time – you're… oh, we can finally go __**home…**__"_

_Alex closed his eyes._

_**Fuck.**_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 29

**Mind over Matter**

"I want you to be gentle with him, Wolf. Just for now, okay? Don't bring up the fact that he ran away."

"Yeah, yeah… shut up already, Eagle."

They were standing in the parking lot outside the crumbling old factory building, mumbling sternly like a pair of divorcees. The sky above them was bleak and gray, with slow passing clouds blocking out any kind of luminance the sun was attempting to offer, and it matched the frost-bitten concrete below their dirty shoes quite fittingly. The chilly weather had painted a few wispy layers of fog across the forest landscape of trees beyond the building as well, dulling the atmosphere with yet more gray. The only splash of color visible in the panorama was the deep green of the vines crawling up the brick walls of the structures as nature set about beginning the slow and arduous process of reclaiming the abandoned location.

"Listen, it really doesn't seem like he's ready to be back with us yet. That's probably the real reason he ran away – a lot has happened."

"You haven't even spoken to him and you're already claiming to know what he's thinking?"

"I'm trying to make sense of this just like you are, Wolf. Back off."

Wolf kicked a rock across the parking lot, watching it bounce and jump into the bordering frozen grass next to where Wolf's rented car was parked. The other two members of K-unit were lingering outside the car while Alex remained locked in the passenger seat. Despite appearing cagey and distant, he managed to stay perfectly still in his solitude. All in all, Alex looked more like a prisoner than a treasured comrade.

"Take a good look at him. Does he look like he's happy to see us?"

As images from the last hour flickered through Wolf's mind – Alex with his gun in the mouth of that thug, his attempted escape, even his begging – defensiveness reared up and, in extension, anger flared. Gritting his teeth, Wolf shook his head and snapped,

"Look, Alex has endured worse than this – he's stronger than any of you are giving him credit for. A week in the hands of the enemy wouldn't destroy him."

"No," Eagle conceded, "but in his current state, _we _might."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you'd better give him space or he'll forcibly put space between you again! We don't want to scare him off! Can you deal with that?"

Wolf shot Eagle a frosty scowl.

He waved an arm and the other pair of soldiers piled into the car, ignoring the MI6 van that they'd previously used in the original interception between Alex's enemy entities – someone would likely be sent to drive it back once they realized it was missing. None of the men could be bothered to worry about something as trivial as that when Alex was finally back in their hands; not after everything they'd endured.

The sleek vehicle (still packed with that new-car scent) soon found itself at full capacity, with Wolf and Alex in the front and the remaining three men in the back. Now that the danger had passed, a very awkward silent permeated the cramped space as none of the men were willing to bring up anything they wanted to talk about in the car but weren't willing to offer any menial small talk to fill the silence either. It was Wolf who spoke first.

"Do you need to go to the hospital, Alex?"

"No," he replied softly after a brief pause. Wolf shifted his hands on the steering wheel uncomfortably.

"Are you sure? I mean, normally I'd insist, but maybe it'd be better if they admitted you back in Chelsea, otherwise we could be stuck here for longer, and…"

He trailed off. Alex was silent, staring down at where his hands lying in his lap. He'd been given a jacket by one of the guys, but other than that most of his bruises and bandages were visible to all. With a start, he glanced up at Wolf, who was alternating between watching the road and watching Alex in concern.

_Wolf is __**worried**__ about you, loser. Do you want to let him down?_

Startled by the venom of his own thoughts, the blonde shifted in his seat and took a deep breath.

"That's probably a better idea," Alex said, his voice stronger than he felt.

"So… we'll head back to the hotel for now. Our hotel."

"Okay," Alex mumbled, firmly keeping his gaze from meeting anybody else's. He knew as soon as they reached the hotel he would be bombarded with questions, but until then he was revelling in the silence, even if it was tense and painful.

When they pulled in front of the hotel, however, it seemed as though other plans were in effect. Standing outside the building were none other than Kobayashi and Sanders, dressed as immaculately as ever in their unnecessary suits and dark red ties.

"K-unit," Kobayashi greeted cordially, gazing primarily at Wolf.

"Agent Rider," Sanders acknowledged Alex, sending him what he probably deemed to be a friendly smile. Unfortunately, any kind of smile sent his way was deemed manipulation by Alex, so he was unknowingly labelling himself fake and untrustworthy with each sign of good-naturedness he demonstrated. Alex stepped out of the car, mindless as ever of his clothing situation.

"Who are you?" he asked bluntly, buttoning his coat.

"I'm Agent Sanders, and this is Agent Kobayashi. We're MI6."

"You don't look so surprised to see me."

"We had full confidence in K-unit's search efforts. It's time for you to come with us."

Wolf scoffed. "That's absurd. He's not–"

"Okay."

Alex's response was calm and swift. Sanders thought he heard a pin drop.

Wolf slowly turned around in order to balk at Alex. Even the two MI6 men looked mildly astonished by his quick admission.

"W-what?" Wolf sputtered. Alex didn't look at him.

"K-unit, a flight has been arranged for later tonight. We will be in touch. Agent Rider, this way."

Alex moved to step forward, but Wolf was quicker, standing between him and the antagonistic spies. His face was set in a snarl, even though betrayal was the obvious motivator. It was Eagle's anxious voice that broke in before Wolf could say a word.

"Let him go."

Wolf ignored him. Alex was gazing solemnly at the ground.

"What the _hell,_ Cub?" Wolf growled. Alex was flexing his fists by his sides.

"I'll see you back in Chelsea," he murmured. When he stepped forward to bypass Wolf, he was shoved back by one hand, drawing a gasp from Snake. If it had hurt, he showed no indication. Still his eyes didn't lift from the concrete.

"What are you following them for? You don't owe them anything!"

The underlying message of _us, on the other hand…_ was left open-ended. Alex remained silent, until Wolf was shouldered aside by Sanders. The blonde man seized Alex's shoulders and began leading him toward the parking lot, away from K-unit.

"Bye, Wolf," Sanders said. Wolf was so baffled that all he could do was watch in stunned silence as the three climbed into Kobayashi's car, pulled out of the parking lot, and drove off down the street. When they were gone, Wolf's outrage verbally made itself known.

"I… I can't believe it! He just _left!_ That – that ungrateful _brat!"_

"Wolf," Fox admonished him, approaching his leader cautiously. "He was probably trying to avoid being grilled by us. We'll see him tomorrow."

"He didn't even say _thanks!_ After everything we–"

"Shove it, Wolf!" Eagle startled the group by barking. Wolf blinked, caught off guard by the shout.

"Eagle?"

"You're mad 'cause he forgot to _thank us?_ Could you at least _pretend_ to be slightly more understanding than that?"

"He just ditched us for those MI6 morons!" Wolf argued defensively.

"So _what?_" Eagle demanded, throwing his arms out in open exasperation with the man. "At least we know he's safe! We're headed back to Chelsea tonight; we can figure everything else out there. For now just let the kid go with who he wants to go with."

"So you're not the _slightest _bit pissed off that Cub just _blew us off?"_ Wolf asked him, expression brittle. Eagle shrugged, passing Wolf as he headed in the direction of the door.

"Honestly?" Eagle asked, even while his voice faded. "Who cares how I feel? The only thing that matters is that Alex is okay."

0o0o0o

* * *

Kobayashi and Sanders were staying in a shared grand suite about ten minutes away from where K-unit was lodged. It was expensive and luxurious; the exact kind of conditions one often pictured when thinking of espionage. The ceilings were higher than usual and the couch was made of clean, off-white suede, plush to the touch. There was a fully-equipped kitchen complete with granite counters that shimmered with the pristine glory of complete disuse, and a flat screen TV was mounted on the wall just above a modern-looking electric fireplace.

Alex eyed the suite with distaste.

Sanders was untying his oxfords while Alex was looking around, and the jangle of Kobayashi's keys meeting the stone countertop practically echoed throughout the suite's many rooms.

"Pretty nice, right?" Sanders grinned up at Alex from where he was still crouched. If Alex had any thoughts on the place, he wasn't giving them away.

Sanders waited a beat longer and then sighed. "Bathroom's just over there. Don't use all the hot water."

His joke went unappreciated when Alex vanished without sparing him another glance, and Sanders straightened before moving over to collapse on the couch. Kobayashi could be heard arranging things in the kitchen, likely preparing them and their guest hot drinks.

"Well? What do you think?" Sanders asked, stretching his legs out and kicking his shoes off with his feet.

"Of Agent Rider?" Kobayashi shrugged. "He's fine."

"Seriously?" Sanders said, turning his head to regard his partner in bewilderment.

"I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, Sanders. It's not your problem."

Sanders's eyes drifted over to the bathroom door, where light could be seen seeping out from the bottom of the frame. He blew his bangs out of his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly.

"Somehow I don't believe you, Kobayashi."

0o0o0o

* * *

The bathroom Alex had stepped into was just as luxurious as the rest of the suite, with embroidered hand towels and heated tiles running the length of the walls. Alex was fumbling with the jacket Wolf had given him, unbuttoning it carefully and frowning at the state he was leaving it in. Once he'd removed that, he directed his gaze into the mirror, taking in the unpleasant scene before him.

He was covered in bruises of varying colors – blue, purple, yellow, you name it. The longer he stared, the more minute and extensive injuries he discovered. The two most glaring injuries – the hole in his side and the broken arm – certainly _looked_ the worst, but they hadn't gone easy on the rest of him, either. Alex's least favourite wound, his hands, were puffy and red along the edges. He held them up and flexed, wincing at the sharp pain accompanying the gesture. After turning around and fully examining himself, he reached over to the tub and cranked the shower on, watching as steam clouds began to originate from the steady stream of water.

Alex stepped under the onslaught gratefully, closing his eyes while the warmth washed through his hair and over his face, carrying him away from his problems for a fleeting moment. As he slowly got used to the temperature, something strange happened – without touching the knobs above the tap, the water began to cool, until it was merely a steady warm temperature. And Alex's skin began to feel oily and slick.

Perplexed, Alex swept a hand over his eyes and then reached out to grasp one of the knobs, allowing his eyelids to peel back as he did so. His whole body tensed immediately, and he involuntarily gasped before jerking back away from the jet of water, throwing his good hand against the wall. He was no longer showering in water anymore – instead, a thick ooze was spraying through the showerhead, dying the bathtub an inky, infectious black.

"Wh–" Alex screwed his eyes up tight before reopening them, seeing clear, fresh water again, with the same clouds of steam thickening the air around him. Momentarily unable to function, he held his breath and continued to rest most of his weight against the wall. What a disgusting hallucin–

He brought both his hands face-up in front of him and gasped. The X's had started to _grow_, jaggedly cutting upwards until they were stretching around the sides of his hands. Long streams of blood painted trails down his arms, intermingling with the water and falling to the ground pink.

He slammed both hands together, closing the image off and whispering to himself, "It's impossible, you're imagining it, just keep calm and finish your shower and then it'll all pass over sooner–"

"_Maybe not."_

"What was that!" he hissed to himself, spinning around and trying to pinpoint the voice. It didn't sound like it was coming from _everywhere_, but he couldn't pinpoint its location, either.

"_Shouldn't the drug have worn off by now, Alex?"_ the voice said again, low and quiet; familiar. _"Are you sure you're not just making excuses?"_

"Why would I need to make excuses?" he answered under his breath, back and palms pressed against the wall behind him once again. The water fell straight down, missing his body and washing wastefully down the drain.

"_Perhaps because you're talking to yourself in the shower?"_

That sounded as though it had come from someone's mouth right above his ear. Spinning around, he misplaced a foot and slipped, slamming his knee into the tap and falling back so that he landed hard on his side. The water assaulted him all over again, washing into his eyes and forcing him to rapidly blink and cough into the crook of his arm. After a moment of seeing stars, he dragged himself back onto his feet, pressing his hands onto the walls and leaning into them heavily.

He _was_ talking to himself in the shower. But he wasn't crazy. He had no idea what the state of his body really was right now – all he knew was that it was _not good_. But that didn't mean he was crazy. He wasn't _irreparable. _

"_Putting words into my mouth…"_

"Who _are_ you?" Alex hissed, looking back and up and all around, yanking the curtain back and dragging his eyes all over the room. He was unmistakably alone.

"_You __**know**__ who I am."_

Alex shut his eyes again. The wound in his side was aching and throbbing. His hands felt like they were made of lead, and the world was swaying a little, pulsating in a way that he knew wasn't natural. He suddenly felt extremely aware of the fact that he wasn't with K-unit or even Lana, but two MI6 strangers.

Fumbling for the knobs, Alex ceased the shower and stood dripping for a moment, half-leaning over the tap just trying to compose himself. He knew he felt terrible physically, but becoming fully aware that he was going to hear things that weren't there made his future appear very bleak. It was difficult to hide that kind of damage – there was room for all kinds of easy mistakes. How could he possibly tell anyone that he was _hearing voices in his head?_ They'd pack him up and put him in a mental hospital sooner than Alex could say "just kidding".

"Breathe," he mumbled, taking a deep breath into his chest and exhaling despite the wince it elicited. _Everything is going to be okay._

A loud whack on the door caused him to jump and turn sharply around, catching the familiar voice of Sanders.

"Agent Rider, I heard a noise. Alright?"

"Uhm," Alex stammered, "Yes. I'm fine."

There was a pause. "Right, hurry up then."

Alex released a breath before snatching up a towel and wrapping it around his waist. Blood trickled down from his side, staining the fluffy white fabric red.

"Agent – Sanders, wait."

"Rider?"

He hurriedly moved to open the door, revealing his state to the other spy. Sanders blanched when the door swung open, stepping back and averting his eyes from the hand Alex had pressed over his half-healed bullet wound.

"Oh, God, you're going to need the first-aid kit – Kobayashi–"

"Deal with it yourself, you can't be the new kid forever," Kobayashi griped, reclining in front of the TV and pulling the remote into his lap.

"It's okay," Alex told him, "you won't need to do anything, I know how to do it all myself."

"You – you do?"

"Well yeah, sure. This isn't the first time I've been shot – nor is it the first time I've had to dress and stitch a wound. You do the math… honestly, don't they tell you guys anything?"

Sanders appeared both astonished and relieved that Alex seemed to have everything together for the moment. He shook his head in response, telling him with a wave of the hand,

"Of course not, nobody knows anything_ about_ you. They just know _of_ you."

"Peopleknow _of_ me?" Alex repeated, frowning. Sanders turned to where his suitcase was perched on the entrance table and unzipped the top, responding,

"Naturally. You've taken all kind of huge missions – people want to know as much as there is to know, and when one name appears in the details enough times, it earns its own worth as valuable information."

"So I'm… valuable information."

"You're an _asset._ That's even better. That's the whole reason this happened to you." Sanders dragged a plastic rectangular box from underneath a pile of multi-colored briefs.

"What? The kidnapping thing? Or the torture thing?"

"Both. And," he said, approaching him once more, "the _surviving_ thing."

Alex's eyes fell to his feet, where his toes curled uncomfortably into the cool stone floor. "But, of course, the fact that they used you to test a dangerous breed of poison was somewhat unforeseen. How's that going, anyway?"

"You'll have to be more specific."

"Well, you know. How's your heart rate? Any accelerated breathing, muscle twitches, stomach pains, hallucinations…"

"Do I feel like snapping and killing everybody…" Alex continued to list monotonously, imitating the blonde. Sanders's mouth quirked up in a half-smile.

"Funny. But really."

Alex's mirth lasted all of the next four or five awkward seconds until he looked up and realized Sanders was still waiting for an answer.

"Oh, no."

Sanders relaxed a little. "Good. Now, I don't care _what_ you think you know, _I'm_ going to help you dress your wounds. Come here."

Alex glanced away. "I don't want to get blood on the carpet."

"It's not like it's my house."

"But the stains are difficult to remove…"

"For heaven's sake…"

Alex was hustled back into the bathroom and sat on top of the toilet sea, where Sanders tended to him in a way that almost felt maternal. There were lots of questions like "does this hurt?", and Sanders frequently apologized for accidentally causing him pain. In contrast to the "tough love" he was usually treated to, it was almost… nice. Like going to a spa.

Voicing these thoughts to Sanders, he received a short laugh. "This ain't no spa I'd ever pay to be cared for at."

"Well, it's the closest to spa treatment I've ever gotten," Alex told him. Sanders had Alex's arm outstretched on his lap, where he was rubbing antiseptic into one of many lacerations littering the appendage. "The last person to dress my wounds put drugs in my warm milk."

Sanders laughed again. "Was that Wolf?"

Alex's small smile faded. "No," he replied vaguely, delving no deeper into the subject. Sanders had the good sense not to press him further. It was about two hours before everything was eventually wrapped up and the two were able to depart from the bathroom. Kobayashi had food ready in the kitchen, a rather uncomplicated stir-fry made mostly of bell peppers and broccoli.

Sanders licked his lips upon entering the kitchen area, sliding his hands along the countertops and lowering his nose just above the pan with a grateful grin. "Kobayashi, I had no idea you could cook."

Kobayashi finished rinsing off a cooking spoon before turning around. "Since I was five."

"I love cooking," Alex told him from where he had followed Sanders in, pulling a wrapped arm through a long sleeved shirt and then beginning to button it from the bottom up. Kobayashi spared him a glance coming in.

"Rider. You must be… starving."

"Ravenous."

It took about a minute and a half for Alex to consume the plate of food placed in front of him on the breakfast bar; two minutes for the plate after that. Sanders shot him a smile out of the corner of his eye.

"Careful, or you'll tear your stitches."

"Like I haven't already done _that_ ten billion times."

He led the fork up to his open mouth anyway, stopping only when his gaze flickered back down to the plate of stir-fry. He froze like that, eyes wide and fork poised inches away from his lips. The stir-fry was no longer a stir-fry. It had at some point turned into a mass of pulsing, oozing flesh. Alex dropped his fork, throwing broccoli and peanut sauce to the floor.

"Rider?" Sanders called. "You dropped your…"

Alex stood up and practically fell off his stool, stepping away from the meal and giving them both a weary grin. "I – oops."

He kneeled down to collect the fallen utensil, pausing again when his mind produced the image of a gun lying on the floor instead. His hand was shaking. Alex swallowed, blinking and finding himself staring down at a fork again. He snatched it up and quickly deposited it on the countertop.

"Sorry. I ate a lot. I'm going outside for some air."

Kobayashi stood up at well. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that, Rider. Not unsupervised."

"What? Why the hell not?"

"Because you could run away," Sanders replied. "You already did it once."

"I'm not your prisoner!" Alex cried.

"Look Rider, I'm sorry, but we can't let it happen again. You understand."

"And you understand I don't take orders from people who aren't Blunt and Jones."

"We're messengers," Sanders reasoned, "what's the difference? Just let one of us tag along with you. It shouldn't be a problem if all you want is air."

Alex ground his teeth. And he'd just begun to like Sanders, too. "I prefer to get my air _alone._ Most people do."

"That's not an option."

"Alright, fine. Have it your way."

And then without any further warning, Alex raised his arm and caught the back of Sanders's head, throwing it down at the exact moment he decided to bring his knee up. The man's face connected and he dropped like a rock, out cold. Kobayashi already had a gun pulled.

"That was unwise."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do, _shoot me?"_

A lightning-fast kick sent the gun clattering to the floor, and then Alex's hand shot out to grasp the handle of the frying pan, swinging it around and smacking Kobayashi over the head with it. He collapsed over the countertop, sliding off a moment later and joining Sanders on the floor. Alex carefully placed the flying pan back on the stove. Then his eyes fell down to the ground, where both unconscious men were no longer moving. Alex's hands twitched before flying up to his hairline, raking through the messy blonde locks as a look of distress appeared on Alex's face.

"Oh, God," he moaned. "_Why_ did I _do_ that?!"

He took a step away from the pair, holding his hands up way from his person in case he did anything drastic again. "I… I just wanted some _air…"_

"_Nice job, Alex. They're out like lights."_

"Stop. Stop talking to me."

"_Nobody is talking to you."_

Alex clenched his eyes shut. _Please._

"_Can't hear you…"_

"Please!"

"_Nobody can make you stop talking to yourself but __**you,**__ kiddo. 'Course the same goes for random acts of violence. Why __**didn't**__ you let those MI6 goons come with you?"_

Alex was breathing heavily. He leaned down to take Kobayashi's gun, opening it up and making sure it wasn't secretly empty. Safely reassured, he tucked it into the waistband of the jeans he'd been given.

"_It's because you weren't sure you could keep the façade up any longer, isn't it? Weakling."_

"I'm not _weak,_" Alex whispered, heading to the door.

"_That's right. You're… strong, aren't you? Just like Flint sai–"_

"Shut up shut up shut _up…!"_

He wrenched the suite door open, the fabric wrapping his hands cushioning his skin from the coolness of the metal. Beneath it, the wound on his palm gave a particularly strong throb.

"_Maybe he should have put those on your feet, too…"_

Alex disappeared down the hallway, heading for the stairs.

0o0o0o

The door to Wolf's house slid open with a long, drawn-out creak, revealing a dark and empty hallway. Wolf averted his eyes, readjusting the weight of his duffle on his shoulder.

"… I forgot to lock the door."

"Evidently," Eagle retorted dryly. All he'd had to do was turn the knob and give it a slight push, and then Wolf's home became open to the public.

"Well, I had a lot on my mind at the time, alright?"

"Alright, Wolf, jeez, none of us even said anything," Fox mumbled, ambling into the house.

"Then could you please tell me again why we're_ all_ staying here tonight?" Wolf snapped, spotting his forgotten keys on the table next to the door. Eagle threw an arm around his neck.

"Mostly because I'm not ready to face Sadie," he announced cheerfully, "and these two are just scared of the dark."

"We are not!" Snake insisted. "But we don't know when MI6'll send Cub back, and when he _is_ sent back, this is the first place they'll put him."

The group migrated into the living room, with everybody other than Wolf collapsing on one couch or another. Wolf reached over to flick on the gas stove, hovering his hands over the blue flame. The clock on the microwave read 1:24 A.M.

"That's where you're wrong. There's no way they'd put Alex back into my custody."

"Why? You defended your honor by saving Cub! Wasn't that the whole point?" Eagle exclaimed.

"Of course not. The whole point was saving Cub. Nobody's _honor_ was defended; they're not going to give me a _redo._ Plus," he added, fixing the three men with his severe gaze, "all enemies have been eradicated. He was put here for protection from a threat, and the threat is gone."

"Yeah, but…" Fox murmured, "I don't think he's ready to just assume his old way of living. I know he's going to need our help."

"Tell that to MI6 when they show up here with a black bag and an executioner's axe."

"I _will."_

"Good!" Wolf slammed his hand down on the countertop. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get some _sleep."_

The man whipped around and stomped his way up the stairs, leaving the three soldiers alone to stare at the flickering blue halo of flame Wolf had forgotten to snuff out. Fox sighed, standing up and stretching.

"That is _definitely_ a safety haza–" He tripped and hurled forward, falling safely into a crouch and snapping back up onto his feet. Dusting himself off, Fox inspected the ground for culprits and bit his lip.

Snake and Eagle also looked down, spotting the countless beer bottles littering the living room floor. Snake's mouth titled into a frown.

"Wolf's right…" he said heavily."They never should have given the kid to him."

"Yeah… he's got too big of a heart for any of this."

There was a moment of quiet, and then Snake whispered,

"Come on, guys. Let's just get some well-earned sleep."

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex only saw one person on his trip out of the hotel – an elderly woman with frizzy steel hair and an unhinged smile returning from a midnight smoke. As they passed each other in the stairway the woman clapped something closed, bringing Alex's attention to the antique cigarette case she carried. Her name was carved into the smooth gold surface in elegant cursive script.

They locked eyes for a moment and she winked, reaching out to brush her fingers over his arm hauntingly. Shivering, Alex wrenched his arm away from her touch, scrambling forward before she could look at him again.

There was a loud clang as the fire exit was roughly shoved forward, opening out into a wide berth of space that housed six dumpsters and a full recycling unit. The glow of a single protruding gaslight above the door was spilling down, bathing the muddy cement in caution orange. Alex's bare feet paid the conditions no mind as they stepped out into a shallow puddle, trousers instantly developing a skirting inch of water.

Alex didn't stop moving until he was across the alleyway and buried deep in the shadows of the green garbage coffins. A narrow strip of concrete bled out into the streets, paving a path for his flight, but still Alex remained, hunched over in the darkness with his hands clasped tightly behind his head. He stared straight down at his dirty feet.

Would he have jumped Sanders and Kobayashi like that before this week of hell? Better yet, had he been in K-unit's care, might that have been Fox or Snake face down on the kitchen floor? Alex gritted his teeth and curled further inwards, shielding his face completely from the glare of the gaslight.

"Having a tough night?"

Alex slowly lifted his head. He was peering across at Lana Knight from beneath heavy eyelids, unable to garner any kind of shock from her sudden arrival.

"Lana. Why am I not even surprised…"

"Sorry to bore you with my predictability."

"Well, don't worry, you make up for it by being so easy on the eyes."

He glanced up without taking his hands away from his head, taking in the sight of her darkly-clad figure. She had her hair down and her lips gleamed blood red against the stark white of her skin. The blue of her eyes appeared almost translucent. They had a sharp coldness to them that he'd never noticed in Sabina's, despite the similar hue.

They were both quiet for a minute as Lana crossed the distance between them and settled against the wall next to him, her heals clacking loudly through the empty alley. Alex watched his breath tumble out in clouds, shivering against the frigid ice crystals in the air. His clothes were providing him little resistance to the cold – not to mention his toes, which he was no longer able to feel. He started curling them up in little waves just to make sure he still could.

"How did you find me?" he asked in a whisper, peering over through narrowed eyes. She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"I'm staying in the room next to you."

"Oh." Alex shifted his feet, cutting the bottom of his foot on a piece of glass. He didn't even wince. "Kobayashi and Sanders didn't catch that, I guess."

"Well, in their defense, I checked in under the name Heidi Ranger about two hours ago."

"Heidi Ranger, huh?"

"Think it suits me?"

"No. Knight suits you."

"Thank you."

There was another comfortable pause.

"So what are you doing here, Lana?"

She slid down the wall into a crouch, wrapping her arms around her knees and looking up at Alex's bent-over form. "I just wanted to check in on you."

"Oh, God. Isn't there someone in America who isn't sick of your face?"

"Come on now. I'm here to help you."

"_Why?"_ he demanded, scowling. "Why do you want to help me so badly? What did I ever do for you?"

"You didn't have to do anything. It's part of my mission – _and_ I like you."

"Is this a ploy to get into Wolf's pants?"

"Brat."

Alex released a shaky laugh, sliding down until he was level with her. They crouched there with their sides touching for another little while, both lost in their own thinking. Eventually Alex couldn't help but break it again.

"Thanks."

Her pale eyes flickered up. He was already looking at her, head cocked to the side. "Thanks for caring."

He turned away from her again, peering straight across at the splintering gray paint of the doors. "That always counts when it's genuine."

She raised her eyebrows. "Does this mean you trust me now?"

"What are you, kidding?"

Lana produced a lighter and a cigarette from her breast pocket, pressing the little while stick between her red lips. She slid one out and offered it to him.

"I don't smoke," Alex said.

"Neither do I," she replied.

He took the cigarette from her outstretched hand, leaning in so she could light it for him.

"Feel any better?" she asked once they'd both had some time to self-medicate. Alex smiled grimly around the cigarette.

"Not much."

"Any irrational urges to permanently disfigure me?"

"Define _irrational_…"

He opened his mouth and gazed up at the dark night-sky, taking in the sight of the sparse star population critically. Four or five lights glimmered down at him mysteriously while smoke curled its way out of his mouth, twisting and dissolving up into the shiver-inducing air.

"What is the fucking point of all this?" he muttered suddenly, voicing cutting into the tranquility of the evening. Lana took a long drag, fingers poised against her lips. She looked tired as Alex ranted on.

"What was the point of kidnapping me and doing all of that? They didn't even _almost_ succeed in their goals – all they managed to do was _almost _kill me, and they didn't even get that done. I mean honestly, what's the point of going through all of that just for the chance to kill _me_? If it wasn't me, it'd be someone else – that's just how the world works. So what is the damn _point of it _all the time, _huh?_"

He stood up abruptly, curling his arms around his waist and breathing hard through his nose. "Wolf didn't need that kind of stress. My girlfriend didn't need that kind of stress. _I_ didn't need that kind of stress. I'm just fucking sick of all this _pointless guilt and stress!"_

"You sound like a teenager," Lana mused aloud, smiling mischievously.

"Shut _up!_"

"Ah, don't kill me."

"That's not – that's not funny!"

Her smile fell. "Why not?"

"Because I'm–" He broke off, hands curling into fists at his sides.

"_Because you're not a killer? You're not a monster? You're not __**Flint?"**_

"Alex…"

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Oh, Christ, K-unit's going to eat me alive…"

"What are you so worried about?" she tried to ease an answer from him. Alex dropped his face into his hands.

"I'm worried this won't pass before I do something crazy."

"Why would you do something crazy?"

"_Because he's motherfucking __**crazy**__, why else?"_

Alex's eyes closed, and he released a shaky breath. The he felt a warm hand slide over his arm, moving up until it was rested on his shoulder. Lana's expression was compassionate.

"Ask for a therapist."

Alex laughed humourlessly. It sounded somewhere between hysterical and empty.

"A therapist won't help me. I've had a therapist before. I've had a few. They're not good for people like me_._"

"Why do you say that?" Lana asked.

"Well, mostly because everything driving me crazy is _actually_ rational."

"Not anymore," she stated. "Scorpia's gone. So is everyone else. Nobody's after you anymore, Alex."

"Correction: nobody's after me until the _next time_ somebody is after me. But that's – that's not _it._ Look, I could kill you right now_. _I could kill anyone, anytime – _quickly, efficiently_. I know how to. I was trained as an assassin."

"You were… _what?"_

"I was trained as an assassin. And having that kind of ability is all fun and games until suddenly you're hearing voices and blindly attacking anyone who poses the slightest threat to your person – and lots who don't, too. It's all fun and games until you wake up with your hand around the throat of someone you owe your life to and you don't remember putting it there. I can't let that happen, and I… I want to believe I can figure it out, but the stakes – the stakes are _really high_ this time_, _Lana…"

Lana leaned closer, pulling him into a side embrace. She had one hand wrapped around his shoulder while the other moved soothingly up and down his arm. It had been a while since anybody had offered him such distinctly _motherly_ support – even if the same mother-figure was also offering him cigarettes and working for the American intelligence agency.

"I understand. It must be really hard."

"There's just a lot of pressure now – to be _normal,_ to not let K-unit see _this_ part, you know? I want to say it's all altruistic – this _pretending_ – because if I left now without telling them a thing, even though there'd be no way for me to hurt them anymore, they'd be so _angry_ and hurt and it'd be so unfair to them that I have to rule it out, but… that leaves an alternative of pretending everything's alright and… an alternative of telling them the truth."

"That everything _isn't_ alright."

"That _nothing's_ alright. I feel _wrong,_ Lana." He was hugging himself.

"I – I feel like I should be dead."

Lana's hand froze in its calming ministrations. "Why?"

He stuffed a hand into his hair again, madly chewing his bottom lip. "Because I should have died. Somebody should have killed me. Their plan was stupid, Mi6 doesn't care about me – they never have, they never will. And just like I said, if it wasn't me, it'd be someone else–"

"I don't believe _that_– " Lana cut in.

"Even_ so – _everything that's happened – the amount of times I escaped, the people I pissed off, getting _shot_, and then _Flint…"_

"Flint?"

Alex lifted his head, illuminating the glassiness of his eyes. He fixed her with a chilling look.

"I killedFlint. I tortured him to death_._ I killed him in _cold blood_."

"Who was he?" she asked, seemingly unfazed by the idea. Alex screwed his eyes up tight, willing the moisture to leave.

"He was the man who tortured me. Primarily."

"You can hardly be blamed for–"

"_Don't_ tell me it was okay. It wasn't. I don't need to try and _rationalize it,_ I'm not – I'm not some kind of _crazed murderer_."

"_You just occasionally act like one, right kiddo?"_

Alex pressed his lips together, trying to ignore his mind's involuntary commentary.

"I never said you were."

"I can't shake this guilt. I can't stop thinking about it."

A puff of smoke emerged from Lana's red lips. "Good."

He shot her a sideways glance. She smiled wanly.

"That means you're still human, Alex."

"I'm hallucinating a lot."

Alex didn't quite know why he told her that. He didn't quite know why he was telling her _anything,_ for that matter. All he knew was that the longer they talked, the closer he inched towards feeling calm again.

"Well, that's not good."

"You're telling me."

A leaky pipe next to Lana had begun to drip a minute earlier, and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Alex focused on the steady sound, closing his eyes and escaping from his thoughts for a few seconds. During that brief moment of reprieve, he was barely aware of himself. It was almost like being asleep.

And then Lana's voice shattered the strange state, bringing him back to the present.

"I can't tell you if that's from the drugs or just your own mind playing tricks on you, Alex; your case it too unique. You've got textbook PTSD–"

"–I do _not!"_

"–so it could really be either one. You're just going to have to endure it for the time being. I'm sure MI6 will send you something in a pill or a bottle once the results are in on that drug, and there isn't a doubt in my mind that _somebody_ will force you into seeing another therapist."

Alex pouted. "Can't _you_ just be my therapist?"

"As if I don't listen to you whine enough already…"

Alex dropped his cigarette into a puddle, where it sizzled out of existence with a low hiss. "Yeah… that's true."

"Where are those MI6 agents of yours, anyway?"

"Unconscious. I knocked them out."

"Really? How'd that happen?"

"I just wanted some air."

He was grateful she didn't question him further about it. "You can be somewhat difficult to argue with."

Then she placed a hand on his shoulder. They were saying goodbye.

"I understand your plane leaves early in the morning. So does mine."

"You're heading off, then?"

"For now."

He nodded. Alex reached up to tug her arm backward, pulling her into a hug. Despite her initial surprise, she swiftly melded into the embrace. His hands settled on the small of her back, holding her tightly. It wasn't just a goodbye hug – it was one of much-needed comfort. He hadn't realized how much he mentally benefited from their talks.

"Thanks for everything," he mumbled into her hair. She closed her eyes and smiled.

"Until we meet again, Alex."

They went their separate ways then, Alex remaining in the alleyway for a few minutes longer. He was back in Chelsea tomorrow, and with a pang of dread, Alex realized something else – K-unit probably hadn't told anyone he was still alive.

He swept his hands over his weary face.

"Oh, God."

0o0o0o

* * *

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Here's my present for you!

Sorry it took me so long to update! Between finals, relationship problems and winter break, it's been difficult to find time and muse. I really appreciate all the reviews everybody left, though – you have no idea how much it really helps me to see such positive feedback waiting for me whenever I come home the day after releasing a chapter (unless you write on here too – then you know _exactly_ the feeling I'm talking about! c: )

And, of course,** You'veBeenHitByASmoothCriminal** takes the title of 800th reviewer. :D Thank you so much!

Heidi Ranger is what happens when I try to make a name out of "hydrangea". Did you catch that? They're my favourite flower!

Before I go I guess I should say Nappy New Year too, since the next time I'll see you guys in the A/N it will be 2013! Be safe everyone, but don't forget to have a wicked time and kiss the people you love!

**Next chapter:** Alex is finally home – but where is "home", exactly? Quips, MI6, and hits… _hard_ hits.


	30. Homecoming

_"I understand your plane leaves early in the morning. So does mine."_

_"You're heading off, then?"_

_"For now."_

_He nodded. Alex reached up to tug her arm backward, pulling her into a hug. Despite her initial surprise, she swiftly melded into the embrace. His hands settled on the small of her back, holding her tightly. It wasn't just a goodbye hug – it was one of much-needed comfort. He hadn't realized how much he mentally benefited from their talks._

"_Thanks for everything," he mumbled into her hair. She closed her eyes and smiled. _

"_Until we meet again, Alex."_

_They went their separate ways then, Alex remaining in the alleyway for a few minutes longer. He was back in Chelsea tomorrow, and with a pang of dread, Alex realized something else – K-unit probably hadn't told anyone he was still alive._

_He swept his hands over his weary face._

"_Oh, God."_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 30

**Homecoming**

Alex woke up around 7 A.M. feeling, as he was prone to feeling these days, like he'd been recently hit by a bus. Groaning at the pale green numbers flashing on his bedside table, Alex rolled over and pulled the duvet over his head, ducking beneath the goose-down comforter and sealing all cracks so that it was just him, darkness, and his own breathing. After about ten minutes of gradually overheating, he decided he wasn't about to fall asleep again and flung the blanket back, wincing at the pain in his side that had accompanied regaining consciousness. He placed a hand over the bullet wound, unsure when the best time to change the bandages would be. A red spot had yet to develop over the white fabric – that was a good sign, right?

Alex stood up and stretched, rolling his shoulders a little before commencing a morning work-out routine he hadn't been able to do for a while. He began with push-ups and sit-ups, counting off the double digits and feeling a familiar therapeutic burn began to envelop his muscles. Sit-ups he couldn't do a lot of due to the pain in his side tripling, but after everything was said and done, he felt better for the physical strain. It helped to abate the feeling of weakness and helplessness he'd been experiencing as of late.

It was about 7:45 when Alex got in the shower, and 8 by the time he actually left his room. Kobayashi was cooking up a storm, and when they locked eyes Alex audibly swallowed. He hadn't spoken to either of his temporary MI6 guardians since he'd tossed them about like ragdolls the night before.

"Good morning, Rider," Kobayashi said stiffly. "Did you sleep well?"

"… Like a baby," he told the man, climbing up onto one of the chairs at the breakfast bar and reaching forward to grasp an apple sitting in a fruit bowl. He was disappointed to find it was made of plastic.

"They make these things too realistic nowadays."

Kobayashi glanced over to the fridge. "There is some fruit inside the fridge."

Alex stood up to challenge the statement, and Kobayashi took the opportunity to inspect his bandages. Alex was standing shirtless in a pair of loose pyjama pants he'd taken out of Sanders' luggage the night before.

"How are you feeling?" Kobayashi asked him, clearing his throat and flipping an over-easy egg. A moment later he'd seized it atop his spatula and slid it onto a plate alongside its predecessor.

Alex reached inside and extracted a pear, inspecting it for bruises. "Better than you, I'd imagine."

He decided to meet the man's gaze again, and found himself startled at the anger he saw there. Before he could open his mouth to apologize like he'd intended, Kobayashi had strode forward and roughly shoved Alex backwards, throwing him back against the fridge door hard enough to shake the appliance. Alex grabbed the edge of the countertop to steady himself.

"Do you really need to rub it in?" he sneered. "Your unnecessary little _demonstration?"_

Alex willed the adrenaline to exit his bloodstream, scared less of Kobayashi and more of accidentally letting his control slip again. The sudden turnaround had caught him off guard. "I was going to say sorry."

"Right. Sorry for _whacking you over the head with a frying pan, _Kobayashi!"

Kobayashi turned around and cracked another egg onto the pan. It was the same one he was talking about.

"Ridiculous."

Alex frowned. "It's not like I didn't warn you. I'm not obligated to operate under your every order."

"_Whatever _you say_, Agent _Rider. Go and wake up Sanders, would you?"

Alex was glad for an excuse to exit the uncomfortable kitchen, still holding his pear. He knocked on Sanders's door and waited before finally stepping into the dark space, approaching the lump on the bed.

"Sanders?" Alex called softly, reaching forward. He was cringing – waking a spy was never something to look forward to. However, when his hand landed on Sanders's shoulder, nothing much happened beyond a light stirring and a mutter of,

"Kob'yashi?"

"Guess again."

Sanders eyelids peeled back to reveal dazed blue eyes. "… Rider?" he slurred.

Alex grimaced. "Ride and shine, Sanders."

Sanders gazed at him calmly for a second longer before scrambling back into the sheets, seemingly remembering the previous night's events in an instant. Where Kobayashi had showed he was angry with Alex, Sanders looked to have developed a newfound fear of the boy.

"Uh, oh," Sanders stammered, slipping off the mattress on the opposite side of the bed from Alex. "Hi."

"Hi," Alex returned awkwardly, grasping his right wrist and holding it in front of him apprehensively. He fiddled with his bandages.

"About yesterday… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… snap like that."

"It's okay," Sanders muttered, picking up a couple stray pieces of clothing off the ground and stuffing them into a suitcase sitting open next to the suite's widescreen TV. "Really."

"No… it's not."

"Fine," Sanders conceded, sending Alex a watery smile that said plainly he wanted nothing more to do with the boy. "It isn't."

"_He's terrified of you!" _his cackling inner-monologue decided to add.

Alex winced. "Is there anything I can help you with? I – I feel really guilty."

Sanders shook his head, gathering up the last of his things from his ensuite bathroom and shoving them into a front pocket. He still wouldn't look Alex in the eye. "When's our flight again?" he asked.

"Uh – nine?"

"Okay. I'll be out in a minute."

"_He liked you, too. What a shame…"_

Alex gritted his teeth and left, just as wary of the kitchen as he was Sanders's suite. Kobayashi stopped him on the way back to his own room.

"Sit down. I made eggs."

He set a plate down on the bar across from where Alex was standing without so much of a glance in his direction. Alex pawed the ground with his toes.

"… Are they poisoned?" he asked, approaching only because he loathed having to turn down food after losing so much weight. He also needed plenty of nutrients to recover.

"No. Believe it or not, not all of us have it out for our roommates."

"You know, I might've started to believe that had you not thrown me into a fridge five minutes ago."

"Well, you deserved it," Kobayashi said bluntly. Alex tensed at the words.

_"Here's my opinion, you good-for-nothing runt. You don't deserve the approval of the dirt you walk on."_

He closed his eyes and took a quiet, shallow breath, picking up his fork and cutting into the egg. Kobayashi went about washing the dishes until Sanders eventually re-emerged from his room, showered and packed.

"I hope you saved me an egg," he quipped. Kobayashi handed him a small plate.

On the car ride to the airport, nobody spoke a word. The last thing either man said to Alex in Carlisle was a warning as they were leaving the building. The elevator opened just as they stepped out of the stairwell, revealing two medics wheeling a stretcher into the lobby. A white sheet had been pulled over the body strapped to it, and a single hand could be seen peeking out from beneath the edge, wrinkled skin spread sparingly over protruding piano-key tendons. Whoever it was beneath the sheet, they were no longer breathing.

Alex slowed when his eyes hit the gurney, white-wrapped hands twitching at his sides. Compulsively – perhaps needing to prove something to himself – he broke out of the line of MI6 agents to approach a third paramedic standing off to the side. The medic was a middle-aged man with his arms crossed over his chest and an air of indifference; he didn't seem too upset about the dead person much at all.

"Hi," Alex muttered, pausing to stand next to the man. His nameplate read Dr. Powell.

"How do you do?" Dr. Powell glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. He spoke with an Irish accent.

"Fine," Alex replied. Sanders had stopped at the front desk in order to check out, while Kobayashi stood by watching Alex like a hawk. "Just fine."

Dr. Powell must have read a little more into Alex's dark circles and pallid skin, because a second later he was asking, "Did you know 'er?"

Alex, who hadn't the faintest idea who the dead person was, nodded his head.

"Yes. I met her here at the hotel," he lied seamlessly. "How did she go, if you don't mind me asking…?"

Dr. Powell reached into his front pocket and extricated a packet of cigarettes. Just beyond him, a very clear "No Smoking" sign was branded into the granite walls. Mindless of the rules, the steel-faced medic lit a cigarette between his lips, offering one to Alex a moment later.

"I don't smoke," he explained. Dr. Powell shrugged, puffing a cloud of smoke out the corner of his mouth. He leaned back against the wall, raising his head after a momentary pause.

"In 'er sleep," he told Alex. "A maid found 'er in 'er bed this morning. She was eighty-one. No apparent friends or family."

Alex looked down at his feet. He wasn't quite sure what to think; after all, he hadn't actually ever met anyone who'd died so naturally and peacefully before. Everybody dead that he knew had died under the wretched circumstances of the underworld or as a victim of it. He also didn't have to wonder why she died of apparent "old age" at eighty-one, because a second later Dr. Powell was reaching into his pocket again.

"I was gunna keep this, but 'ell if I'll remember 'er – and someone should."

He pressed something small and cold into Alex's hand, patting him once on the shoulder before heading for the doors where the gurney had disappeared. Only after Dr. Powell had gone and Kobayashi was beckoning him over did Alex finally uncurl his fingers to peer down at the object.

It was an antique cigarette case. A name was carved into the smooth gold surface in elegant, cursive script.

The name on the case read: "Heidi Ranger".

Alex blinked down at the cigarette case. Kobayashi snapped his fingers across the room, drawing Alex's attention up and onto himself.

"Rider," he called, "we are on a schedule."

Alex sent the gift one last perplexed look before slipping it into his back pocket and exiting the building.

0o0o0o

* * *

"Here? Now? Great."

Alan Blunt did very little justice to the word "great". The drab monotone of his voice took the word beyond sarcastic-sounding and one step further. When Alan Blunt called something "great", it sounded more like an insult than anything else. "Send them in, please. And where is Mrs. Jones?"

"Here," the woman's voice cut in from the doorway. Blunt leaned over, peering around the messenger to get a look at his assistant. Mrs. Jones looked tired and ruffled; she was clearly dreading their two afternoon meetings – probably even more than Blunt himself.

"Tulip. How nice of you to join me."

That time he really was mocking her. She was two hours late.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding about as convincing as Blunt's previous statement of ecstasy.

"You're here now," he pointed out as the messenger turned and left. "You didn't miss much. If you don't count Colonel Grandjambe returning about permission to borrow Rango again, or Zhang Wei cracking down on us for the Casino Supreme fiasco…"

"Well, Casino Supreme will eventually solve itself," Mrs. Jones announced, making her way behind Blunt's desk so she could see the papers he was looking at. To her amusement, the director of MI6 had doodled a cat in the corner of one of the documents. She could only assume it was Axel, the kitten she'd bought him for Christmas. "But I saw Rango in the hall, so does that mean…"

"I told him no," Blunt clarified. Mrs. Jones's face dawned with comprehension. The two were so adept at reading each other's motives that most words shared between them were either a luxury or a formality these days.

"I see."

He glanced up, uncharacteristically seeking her approval. "Have you any other suggestions?"

"No," Mrs. Jones said slowly, offering him the slightest beginnings of a smile. "I'm glad you gave it enough thought to think of using Rango."

"We can't exactly send anybody," Blunt stated.

"I wouldn't have sent anyone different," Mrs. Jones told him demurely. Their conversation might have continued if not for the short, concise knock on the door.

Alan Blunt cleared his throat. Still the door did not open.

In a completely Alex-inspired fashion, Blunt rolled his eyes before calling out in a tired drawl, "Come in."

The door opened to reveal a sheepish-looking Agent Sanders and an ever-serious Agent Kobayashi. Alex was nowhere in sight. Mrs. Jones beckoned them towards a pair of comfortable looking chairs, and Sanders hesitated, as though picturing a trap door opening up beneath it. They were both settled by the time Mrs. Jones's mint had dissolved on her tongue.

"So," Blunt began. "Report."

Kobayashi, who'd been carrying a small file folder dutifully at his side, now slid it across the table. It had a large, block-letter stamp stating its confidentiality on the front.

"Where would you like us to start, sir?" Sanders asked. It was Mrs. Jones who answered.

"Perhaps you should lead, Kobayashi. This is Agent Sanders's first report, after all."

Sanders ducked his head nervously.

She smiled at Kobayashi. It could more accurately be described as a misleading twitch of the face.

"Could you perhaps start with Agent Rider's current whereabouts?"

She knew where he was, of course. All of them did. It was only proper to put everything out on the table first, though.

"Agent Rider has been admitted to St. Dominic's for treatment. A car is picking him up and bringing him here at six for his debriefing." Kobayashi was all business. Before they left the hotel that morning, he'd ironed his red tie to perfection.

Alan Blunt nodded, but Mrs. Jones didn't look quite so satisfied with the answer. "At six? Don't they want to keep him overnight for observation?"

"With all due respect, Mrs. Jones," Blunt cut in, "they _always_ want to keep Alex overnight for observation. I can't say it's in his best interest at the moment, however."

By _his_ best interests, Blunt was really talking about MI6's. It was always best to debrief someone sooner rather than later, and on top of that, leaving Alex alone overnight at a hospital seemed like a recipe for Alex's favourite magic trick, _the disappearing act._ They wanted to keep him grounded for as long as they could, and Blunt had noticed in his constant observation of the world around him that there was only one thing and one thing only Alex responded to: the people he cared about.

That list of people may or may not have extended to Mrs. Jones, but he knew for a fact it did not extend to him. That was why he didn't believe for one second that Alex had any plans of listening to _his_ orders, never mind that of his physician. If they didn't force him back into the hands of his friends, they'd be giving him enough time to inevitably decide they were better off without him.

Blunt had it all figured out.

He looked down, spotted his absentminded cat doodle and swiftly switched it out with the paper beneath it. Mrs. Jones politely averted her eyes.

"Can we send him back to the hospital when he's done here?"

"I doubt it will be necessary," Blunt said decisively. Sanders traded glances with Kobayashi.

Why was Mrs. Jones showing such an interest in Alex's good health? Most of the time an agent returning _alive _from something like that was more than enough cause to celebrate, as it meant less paperwork for them. Sanders may have been new, but Kobayashi could safely say with some weight to his words that it meant something for one of the heads of MI6 to be showing so much concern for a single operative.

Kobayashi narrowed his eyes. He found it somewhat annoying how _special_ Rider seemed to be to so many people. Had it been Kobayashi in Alex's position last week, he would have been surprised to see Sanders shed a tear over his loss, let alone show up to his rescue. Nobody in MI6 was supposed to care about anyone other than themselves.

Except, it seemed, when it came to this boy. He'd even involved the SAS and the CIA in his crowd of admirers. Jealousy stabbed at the pit of Kobayashi's stomach for the recognition that meant.

"Now: run us through what happened on your mission, everything that you know. Beginning to end, please."

0o0o0o

* * *

When Alex walked through the doors of the Royal and General Bank, it was in clothes slightly too big for him and shoes slightly too small for him. With his messy hair and newly-casted arm, he looked as uncomfortable as an inside-out hedgehog. The setting didn't help much, either.

He was approached by a woman with her hair tied up in a tight bun carrying some form of an electronic tablet.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Appointment with–"

"What did you say your name was?" she cut him off.

"Alex Rider."

She consulted her tablet, nodding accordingly. "Upstairs, please. Room–"

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill."

He walked straight into the room because the door was being held open for another person inside to leave from. Quietly gliding in midsentence, Alex did something he was, in being a spy and all, fairly good at: he momentarily disappeared.

The room's previous two guests left, and then Alex, Mrs. Jones and Alan Blunt were alone. The latter two had yet to notice Alex sitting in the chair before their desk, too busy facing the frosted glass surface of the door instead.

"Well," Mrs. Jones muttered, "that went well."

"You've been tired lately, Tulip." This observation was not to say that either director of MI6 was ever actually _well-rested_ to say the least. It was merely pointing out that she'd been making less of an effort to hide it as of late.

"Yes. I've just been…" she trailed off before finishing softly, "… worried."

"I haven't been top-of-the-weather, either," Alex announced, jerking the pair out of their thoughts and throwing both dignitaries a good six inches off the ground in alarm. When Mrs. Jones spotted him perched at the edge of his seat, she visibly blanched.

"A-Alex!" she gasped. "When did you…"

"Right on time, Alex," Blunt acknowledged him dully. "A pleasure to see you as always."

"I suppose the purpose of this meeting was to work out my living arrangements?" Alex asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Are you… okay?" Mrs. Jones hedged. Alex peered over at her.

"What does it matter to you?"

What Alex didn't know was just how_ much_ it mattered to Tulip Jones. The _use_ of young Alex was something that had never sat right with the formerly cold-hearted MI6 executive, but she knew they'd crossed a line when she was forced to see first-hand what kind of torture they'd managed to land the seventeen year old boy in – _twice_. Everything that had happened to Alex was on their hands, and now, as Mrs. Jones gazed across at the guarded eyes of post-kidnap Alex, she found the burden to be particularly difficult to cope with. Alex reminded her of things she'd be better off forgetting about.

"It… it matters," she said quietly, looking away. Alex was slightly taken aback by her strange behaviour. He nibbled his bottom lip in apprehension.

"Uh," he awkwardly tried to comfort the woman, "I'm okay, Mrs. Jones..."

Something in Alex clicked when he found himself falling back into this well-acquainted routine, of getting hurt and calling himself okay until it was eventually true. He found the familiarity a tiny bit comforting.

Mrs. Jones took one look at his earnest face and violently turned away in the same second, excusing herself before taking off out the door. She'd apparently found his response cause to flee to the safety of the bathroom, where her sudden nausea would either strike or fade away.

Blunt dusted off his suit. "Well."

Alex stared at the door in astonishment. "What just happened?"

"Tulip did not take your kidnapping well."

"_Mrs. Jones_ didn't?"

"No."

"_Why?"_

Blunt returned to his desk, settling into his cushy desk chair and briefly tidying the office space up with his hands.

"As one of our finest operatives, it would do you well to be a tad more observant, Alex. You have had to deal with a lot of different less-than-pleasant things in the past week–" Alex made a face at that. "–but apathy has not been one of them."

"What do you mean? I'm talking to _you_ right now, aren't I?"

Blunt, being the very picture of apathy, had little to say to that. Instead he chose to lace his fingers together in the center of his desk and fix Alex with his usual listless gaze.

"Being that MI6 is your legal guardian, Alex, we are going to give you a choice."

"Is this going to be one of those times where you _say_ you're giving me a choice but there's really only one plausible choice for some unfair reason you'll point out and you're _really_ just twisting my hand?"

Alan Blunt made the wise decision to ignore his question. "Your other guardian, so to speak – Ms. Starbright – would surely throw a fit if she found out we barred you from living with her, and for the sake of my blood pressure I'd like to avoid that if at all possible."

Alex tried to digest the fact that Blunt had just made some kind of joke, however dry and passive it had been.

"So I am informing you right now that Jack Starbright is currently living with your _friend,_ Sabina Pleasure."

Pairing those two together actually sounded like a pretty good match to Alex. He nodded.

"And you're free to join them if you so choose. However, neither woman knows you're still alive."

His heart did an uncomfortable leap in his chest. "You didn't tell them, then."

"We didn't tell anyone."

"Not – not even my school?"

"Your memorial is actually tomorrow, so you might want to…"

"_Memorial?"_ Alex all but cried. "What do you expect me to do, waltz in and announce I'm still alive just like that? Does – does _Tom_ even know?"

Blunt's words were bleak. "The only people privy to your livelihood at this time are Mrs. Jones, those you encountered during your time in Carlisle, and myself."

"Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

He did not.

"I'd like to offer you an alternative to moving back into your old place with Ms. Starbright quite so soon. How would you feel about returning to the temporary guardianship of Mr. Novara – or Wolf, as you know him?"

In all honesty, Alex _felt_ queasy with the very thought of facing his former squad leader. But at least the man wouldn't break down into tears upon seeing him. Hopefully.

Alex looked away. "Have you consulted him on this?"

"Well, technically you never left his custody. We're also arranging for a therapist–"

Alex groaned. "No."

Blunt paused, studying his face. "It's not the same person as last time."

"Dr. Schnur? Is he even still practicing?"

Thinking back on it, Blunt remembered that Dr. Schnur was not, in fact, still practicing. He wasn't even still breathing. Dr. Schnur had been run over by the car of one of his less-successful patients. Said patient dragged him four blocks to his death before making a perfect mental recovery in a state hospital the following year.

"Mrs. Jones and I have someone in mind."

Alex fiddled with one of Blunt's extravagant ballpoint pens. "Is that so? The answer is still no. As I've been informed, the only thing worse than SAS shrinks is MI6 shrinks, and I'm not interested in either."

"I'd like for you to believe me when I tell you there is one exception. The person I have in mind has served as both."

"You're _really_ selling your point here, Blunt."

"By _request."_

Alex shuffled his feet, unwilling to neither yield on the matter nor continue the argument. Blunt could tell he was 100% done with being cooped up in his office; it was time to get things moving.

"We'll talk further about this later. I am going to call a car to take you back to Mr. Novara's home. Does that sound alright to you?"

Alex sighed. He didn't have much of a choice.

"Yeah, okay."

Blunt led him to the door, leaning forward to pull it open for him. As Alex passed the gray-suited man, he locked eyes with him and cocked an eyebrow. Blunt's frown seemed to tremble.

"What's that look all about?" he asked against his better judgement. Alex paused, fingers grazing the doorframe.

"I'm… surprised by you, I guess."

"How so?"

Alex shrugged, and if one were to look closely, they might pick up on the smile Alex was desperately trying to repress.

"It's just," Alex hedged, turning so that he was leaning his back into the doorframe and facing Blunt head-on. He stuffed his hands behind his back and balanced on the heels of his feet, visibly thinking.

"It's just that you haven't changed that much, seeing that things are still happening the way you want them to happen, and I'm still playing into your games. But – I mean, Mrs. Jones ran out of here like she was encountering my _ghost_ or something…"

Finally, the corner of his mouth twitched up, unable to be denied any longer. "You care about me…"

It took most of Blunt's self-restraint to keep his expression neutral, but beneath all that he was shaken. It was as though Alex had stripped off a layer of skin a little too soon, and now he felt raw and itchy, uncomfortable with the old.

"You're…" he searched for the words, trying for dignified and sounding almost defensive instead, "… a very valuable operative…"

"In your own weird, awkward way, you care!" Alex accused gleefully, as though he'd just discovered Blunt's most closely-guarded secret. "You _actually_ give a shit about what happens to me – and not just because I'm useful to you as a spy, either!"

"You are getting ahead of yourself, Alex," Blunt muttered, placing a hand on his shoulder. Alex slid out from beneath his touch, grinning ear-to-ear.

"I'm right. I'm _right, _aren't I?"

"You're right _mad_ is what you are," Blunt countered in an impatient grumble, opting to gently push Alex out the door. The elevator was just across from Blunt's office, so he was forced to watch Alex's face during his entire walk backwards into the open doors. He looked less smug than Blunt would have imagined though. More than anything he just looked… _happy._

The cold mechanics governing Alan Blunt's heart shuddered in warmth at that – the sight of Alex Rider looking happy. Even if it would wear off as soon as his thoughts returned to his present situation; even if it was at his own expense.

"I'm _RIGHT!"_ Alex shouted again, throwing a triumphant fist in the air right before the elevator doors slid together, severing the view between them. The director of MI6 shook his head and retreated back into his office with Alex's wild grin lingering in his mind's eye a few seconds longer than he wanted to let it.

Alan Blunt could deny it all he wanted, but it was an obvious trail filled with unquestionable evidence all pointing in the direction that Alex was right: Blunt cared.

Finally alone once again, the man sighed in frustration.

"This is all Tulip's fault," he griped. "She and that damned_ cat._ She just _had_ to get me a cat for Christmas! She could've gotten me a new grey sweater! She could've gotten me _socks!_"

Without realizing it, Alan Blunt had been inadvertently shown how to love and be loved in return by his cat of four months, Axel.

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex arrived in front of Wolf's home around half past seven, one fist hovering over the face of the door in preparation of knocking.

It remained suspended there for a good five minutes. On the sixth, he took a deep breath and steeled himself to the task.

"Just knock on the door Alex. Just do it. Don't think about it."

"_Just knock on the door, Alex!"_ his consciousness mimicked obnoxiously. It was easy to differentiate the voice from his own thoughts because Alex heard it as though it were coming from another person standing behind him, or a tape recording stashed somewhere close by. He also knew it wasn't natural to have a discouraging voice verbally mocking his every decision.

"Who asked you?" he mumbled irritably, shutting his eyes and cursing a second later. Responses tended to just slip out, but he was trying to cut the habit of replying out loud to voices in his head.

"_Who asked __**me?"**_sounded clearly in his right ear.

"_Who asked __**you?"**_ echoed in his left.

Alex rapped his fist against the door. There was no response. He decided to just try the handle, finding it to be, shockingly, unlocked. _Wolf goes to the trouble of crafting such an elaborate alarm system and then forgets to lock the door? _Alex thought with an internal snicker. _Classic._

Nobody was home, and the lights were off. Wandering down the hall into the kitchen/living room, Alex felt some of the tightness in his muscles relax. It wasn't perfectly crafted or furnished with art-deco like his huge suite in Carlisle had been, but it was home – and it felt a hell of a lot better to be sliding along the creaky, beat-up hardwood of Wolf's house in his socks than anything else had felt lately.

He jumped over the back of the couch, landing face-down on the cushions and burying his face in the familiar scent of what he'd come to associate with _home._

He fell asleep like that.

0o0o0o

* * *

Wolf closed the door behind him with the bottom of his foot, juggling four bags of groceries in his hands. Most of the men had left that morning, but Eagle had made sure to mother-hen him into buying the essentials before returning to his own home and girlfriend. Now he was alone in his house for the first time since Alex's "death".

He set the bags down on the countertop and began distributing the groceries about the kitchen, opening the fridge and tossing out the expired milk cartoon before replacing it with the new one. When that was all done he poured himself a glass of whiskey and moved into the living room, circling the couch.

Alex had not moved since collapsing on the piece of furniture two hours earlier. He was sprawled out across the length of the couch quite comfortably, long legs forcing his feet to poke out off the end. Crushing a pillow to his chest, Alex's face was almost completely devoid of any expression. Had his bandages not been exposed, Wolf might've believed himself to have stumbled backward in time.

"Well, hello to you too," Wolf muttered, unwilling to wake the teen up quite yet. He stood there debating with himself until eventually turning around and settling into the cushy armchair just off to the left. Reaching down deep into the cushion cracks, he pulled out the remote and flicked on the television, allowing the low murmur of the audio and the alcohol's influence to lull him into a state of relaxation he'd thought lost to him since that fateful day on Angeles Street.

Alex's quiet snoring was all he needed to hear to feel his muscles unwind and the week's tensions ease away, like melted butter in a pan.

0o0o0o

* * *

Well, I'd like to apologize for one thing: in the last teaser I believe I included "hits"; this notion and its associations have since been postponed for later development. Interpret that how you will because the exotic and mysterious author *_~gives nothing away~*_

And on that note, there is much to interpret this chapter. It's the beginning of a new arc which means the introduction of brand-spanking-new seemingly random and pointless details that I may or may not remember to tie in by the end of things. Harah! Really though, if you're struck by any theories for anything leave it in a review. It is my pride and joy to see just what the hell it is I'm making you think by which methods I employ to get things unfolding. If that sounded kinda weird just think of this as my customary end of chapter paragraph where I beg for reviews and thank the people who write them for me.

*deep breath* THANK YOU! :'D Especially Izzy-I.R.T for the big long review. You guys all make me really happy, you know? Very very happy. And thanks for the follows and favourites, too c:

So I am back in school which means you should all be giving me a pat on the back for releasing this on time! Almost exactly one month since the last chapter… not bad at all. Anyway, news, news… new…s… IT'S THE NEW YEAR! I hope you guys at least tried to set some attainable goals because every year I say "quit procrastinating" and then… well…

My New Years consisted of a party followed swiftly by a break up a few days later :( it was for the best and all that, but y'know how it is. Picture me crying and holding a grapefruit like Fox that time K-unit got drunk. That's me these days.

**Next chapter:** Rango? Heidi Ranger? DR. SHNUR? _WHO **ARE** THESE PEOPLE?! _Tom makes the worst speech of his life and Alex pays a visit to Brookland Comprehensive. Next time!


	31. In Loving Memory

"_Well, hello to you too," Wolf muttered, unwilling to wake the teen up quite yet. He stood there debating with himself until eventually turning around and settling into the cushy armchair just off to the left. Reaching down deep into the cushion cracks, he pulled out the remote and flicked on the television, allowing the low murmur of the audio and the alcohol's influence to lull him into a state of relaxation he'd thought lost to him since that fateful day on Angeles Street._

_Alex's quiet snoring was all he needed to hear to feel his muscles unwind and the week's tensions ease away, like melted butter in a pan._

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 31

**In Loving Memory**

Wolf's eyelids slowly peeled apart, blinking against the heavy lethargy that was struggling to pin them together again. He found himself squinting up at a blinding light beaming straight down into his eyes, identifying it after a moment's disorientation as the sunroof. _It's morning,_ was his first thought, followed almost instantly by his second: _where's Alex?_

Placing his hand against his forehead as a visor, Wolf made the supreme effort of sitting up and waiting patiently for the room around him to come into focus. Alex sharpened into view ahead of him, still spread out over the couch opposite of him. One hand was grazing the hardwood while the other lay draped just above his head, and he'd nuzzled his face into the crook of his elbow. Wolf hadn't a clue how much sleep Alex had managed to catch in the past week, but judging from the dark circles etched into Alex's face, it probably wasn't a lot.

The blonde stirred, uncurling the hand over his head and arching his back. Wolf waited for Alex to notice him first.

Alex's eyes opened one after the other, hazily ingesting their surroundings before flickering over to Wolf's chair. He froze still mid-stretch, doing his best deer-in-headlights impression as Wolf gazed across at him.

Slowly Alex relaxed, trying for a sleepy half-smile.

"Hey, Wolf."

"Brat," Wolf greeted him cordially. "I trust you had a rejuvenating stay with your freakish coworkers?"

"Rejuvenating," Alex repeated in disbelief. "Ah, no, I wouldn't call it that…"

"So it didn't go well?" Alex felt a familiar pinch of annoyance at how smug Wolf sounded. "I see."

The teen slid his legs down from the armrest and off the edge of the couch, rubbing the base of his head. It was aching again. Wolf was still watching him like a hawk.

"Hey, Cub, you want an aspirin?"

"I think I'll be okay," Alex ground out.

"You can't still be pulling that anti-painkiller act," he said. "There's nobody after you anymore."

"That's what MI6 told me _before_ this happened," Alex responded dryly, standing up and wobbling precariously. Wolf reached out to steady him, studying Alex's face carefully. The close scrutiny was enough to make Alex squirm. Wolf's grip on his forearm tightened.

"_Brat_," he addressed him again. "Take a goddamned aspirin, would you?"

"I'm on enough medication, Wolf."

"It's not up for debate."

He let go of Alex and circled around the couch back out into the hallway where the ground floor bathroom was located. When he returned it was to a suspicious looking Alex.

"You keep your first-aid kit in your small bathroom," he pointed out. Wolf glanced behind him in the direction of said room, swallowing loudly.

"Yeah, so?"

"Why would you keep it there? That's not where it used to be."

Wolf began rifling through the medical supplies in the box. "We should probably switch your bandages, too."

"It's fine; they did that at the hospital."

"You went to a hospital? When?"

Alex narrowed his eyes. "Yesterday. You didn't answer my question."

Wolf dragged the bottle of painkillers out from beneath a pair of small scissors before twisting it open and handing one of the tiny tablets to Alex. Alex eyed the pill with distaste.

"I'm not taking that until…"

"After you were taken," Wolf snapped, standing up and migrating into the kitchen. "I moved it after you were taken, okay?"

Alex followed closely, pulling a glass from the cupboard and placing it in Wolf's outstretched hand to be filled with water. "Why?" he asked.

"What, it isn't completely obvious?"

Alex shook his head. Wolf wouldn't look at him.

"It was just in case, alright?"

"Just… in case?"

"In case you came home! In case you were alive but too injured to make it up the stairs, or something. I did it as soon as I got back from the hospital that night. Jesus! Why was that so important? You're back now so you can go ahead and put it back upstairs on your way to your damn room!"

Alex was staring at him, momentarily at a loss for words in the face of Wolf's outburst. "Are you… telling me to _go to my room?_"

"I…"

Wolf realized then just how ridiculous he was being. He began to massage his temples with a sigh, turning away from Alex and gesturing to the glass of water sitting on the counter.

"I'm sorry, I'm… really hungover. Take your aspirin."

Alex nudged the glass in Wolf's direction. "I think you need one too. I'll just grab another, alright?"

Wolf watched Alex cross the room in silence, collecting up the aspirin bottle and shaking a few into the palm of his hand. He looked okay, as far as Wolf could tell. He had a near-imperceptible limp in his step and his left arm was enclosed in a fat white cast, but any further analysis Wolf might've undertaken was thwarted by clothes and bandages. He _looked_ okay, but that didn't mean he was.

"So," Alex said, popping the pill onto his tongue and beaming at Wolf. "I hope you didn't starve here without me. What kind of food do we have? I can…"

"You can sit down is what you can do. We have eggs; I'll cook breakfast."

"_You'll_ cook?" Alex repeated dubiously. "No thanks. I can do it, Wolf."

He reached forward to open the drawer holding the pans. Wolf seized his arm in that iron-tight grip a second time. Alex's reaction was instantaneous – he gritted his teeth and hissed, barely suppressing a curse.

"Would you–" He wrenched the appendage out of Wolf's grip. "–_Stop?"_

Wolf opened the drawer and pulled the pan out himself, flicking on the stove and placing it over the round blue flame. Alex took a step toward the fridge but Wolf stood in his way once again, beating him to the punch.

"Wolf, you're being childish."

"No, _you're_ being childish."

"That is _the_ most childish thing you could have said back to that."

"Cub, could you just – could you just let me do this?" Wolf pulled out a carton of eggs and a pack of bacon, kicking the fridge door closed behind him. He deposited everything onto the countertop, mindless of his ward's fuming presence in the middle of the kitchen.

Alex crossed his arms over his chest in exasperation. "Fine. Do what you want; it's your house."

"Damn right it is."

Alex disappeared up the stairs after that, presumably taking a shower. It came as a complete shock to Wolf when Alex returned ten minutes later, dressed and ready for school. He hovered atop the stove, devouring the sizzling bacon with his eyes.

"We'd better make this quick, I wasn't watching the time."

"Alex, do you think… that you're going to _school?"_

"I have to." Alex reached into the pan, snatching up a slice of bacon and shaking it free of any searing grease. "My memorial is today."

"You're joking."

"See, that's what I said, but as it turns out..."

"You can't actually be thinking of crashing your own memorial? I – I don't even know how you're up and walking around right now!" Wolf exploded. There was an audible _crunch_ as the bacon strip was crushed between Alex's teeth.

"Like I said," he responded through a mouthful, "I'm on a _lot_ of medication."

And if he was _looking_ for it, Wolf realized that much was obvious. Alex's eyes were hooded and glazed, and he was blinking slowly, as though experiencing a constant head rush. If he felt dizzy he wasn't letting it show, because he was standing straight enough.

"How much medication?" Wolf asked suspiciously. "Did they put you on codeine?"

"Morphine, actually…"

"_Morph –_ Cub you are _not_ going to school."

"My memorial, though…"

"That would be a fucking crazy thing to do even if you weren't drugged up on morphine. God, and I thought I'd have a tough time getting you to take your pills at all you psycho!"

"First off," Alex said, holding up his pointing finger, "_don't_ call me crazy. And second off, I'm allowed to take my own bloody pain medication if I'm in pain, so don't try and make me feel stupid for it!"

"You were…" Wolf trailed off, glancing away and visibly deflating. "You were in pain."

Alex leaned back against the countertop, biting his lip. For some reason Wolf's statement made him feel defensive, as though he should be denying the fact instead if advertising it. "Yeah," he muttered. "Duh."

"I'm sorry."

"That's the second time you've apologized this morning, Wolf."

"Well, it's the second time I've needed to."

"Seriously, stop. It's getting weird."

"Sor–"

"Wolf!"

"Well I am!" Wolf bit back. "What, it's not okay for me to apologize for things?"

"It's _weird!"_

"Deal with it! Because I _am_ sorry! You're… you're perfectly allowed to take whatever they've prescribed you… I'm just…" Wolf kept his gaze firmly off of Alex's. "I'm just happy you're home safe, alright? I'm just happy you're_ okay._ And_ I_ have to get used to feeling okay again too, so I'm going to need you to be patient…"

Alex stood stock-still during Wolf's short speech, fingers occasionally twitching at his sides. He did another slow blink, like a sleepy cat, before telling Wolf numbly,

"Wolf… I think the morphine is making my imagination play tricks on me…"

"Oh, shut up."

"Wolf…" Alex said again.

Wolf sighed, sparing Alex a look out of the corner of his eye. Alex fumbled.

"I … oh, jeez, what time is it?" Alex spun around, spotting the clock mounted on the wall. He had ten minutes until the lunch break ended at school, and then all the students would be called to the auditorium. "We have to go!"

"_We?"_

"Well, I didn't think you were going to let me go _alone…_"

"I wasn't going to let you go to go at _all_," Wolf reminded him in a growl. Alex started taking a few steps back, spinning on his heel and making a dash for the exit.

"Damn it, Cub! Stop! I'll take you there!"

Alex skidded to a halt, one hand poised around the door handle. He peeked at Wolf over his shoulder.

"Thank you," he said with a cheeky grin. "I don't think I wouldn't have gotten far, anyway."

0o0o0o

* * *

_Tap._

_Tap tap tap_.

"Tom…"

"Stop it," said Tom.

"You're not getting up…" Mia replied, sweeping her hands beneath the collar of his shirt and massaging his shoulders gently. Tom was sitting hunched over his desk near the back of the classroom, the last student to get up. She lifted a finger and tapped his collarbone.

"Please stop tapping me."

"Everybody else is leaving…" she told him softly. "Come on. It's time to go."

"I don't _want to,_" Tom muttered, ducking his head and burying his hands in his thick dark hair. "I don't want to go. I _can't_."

Mia had to sympathize with him – everybody did. It had been little over a week since Tom's best friend had stopped coming to school, and while that was normal for Alex, the school's announcement of his passing was not_._ Tom had thrown himself out of his chair and gone straight to Sabina's house, hammering away at the door with his fist until it finally creaked open. Jack's bloodshot eyes peering out from the dark opening had told him everything he'd needed to know.

"You _have_ to go. Look, we're the last ones here. People are going to wonder where we are…"

Tom raised his head to gaze up at her searchingly, lips parted and trembling as he struggled to keep his breathing even. He looked more lost than Mia had ever seen him. After spending seventeen years as Brookland Comprehensive's resident ball of sunshine, everything had changed overnight. He had returned the following morning pale-faced and haunted, refusing to participate in a single social press conference or divulge any information on what had happened to take Alex from them. He couldn't even muster a reassuring smile for Alex's friends on the football team. It was as though the vibrancy and _joie de vivre_ that had made Tom's character so infectious had simply evaporated right out of his pores, leaving him empty and translucent, like the shed skin of a snake.

"I – I really can't, Mia. I can't let this get so real."

"It _is_ real, Tom. Attending his memorial isn't going to make or break that. It's already happened."

Tom's hands balled up into fists from their place on the surface of his desk. "He… he should have been back by now…"

Mia blinked. "Tom?"

"He _always_ comes back. Even from the brink of death he's come back."

"It's already been a week… He's gone, Tom," she said gently. "Come on; stand up…"

She finally persuaded him to get to his feet, looping her arm around his and guiding him in the direction of the door. Tom didn't resist like she expected him too – just trailed an inch or so behind her in a slow shamble that was so introverted and _not Tom_ that Mia felt a physical sickness swirl in the pit of her stomach. In the end, the fact that he'd cooperated felt even worse than if he hadn't.

The auditorium was packed with people, and Mia made the conjecture that some of them probably weren't from the school at all and simply wanted to pay their respects to Alex. It wasn't like some school memorials – _everyone_ at Brookland knew Alex, or at the very least knew _of _him. He was a legend with a long legacy of sports victories, house parties, wild stories and big-scale practical jokes. Anybody could have gone up onto the stage and said a word for him.

As it was, the only people on the stage were school faculty – there was no sign of Jack or Wolf or even Sabina. A large wreath was being held up by a metal easel, housing a picture of Alex's year twelve school portrait. Tom stared long and hard at that photo, with its generic blue background and slightly off-center participant. Tom had been standing just behind the photographer that day, pulling faces and cracking jokes in an attempt to get a genuine smile out of his friend. As a result, Alex wasn't looking at the camera but at Tom instead, and there was a fondness captured in the photograph that had made it so endearing nobody had forced him to do re-takes for not looking at the camera.

"Mia," Tom whispered urgently, "I really – I really feel ill, I don't think…"

The lights were dimmed and the crowd quieted down as a single figure stepped up to take the microphone. To everyone's surprise it was not their principal but rather Mrs. Bedfordshire, the school secretary.

"Today we say goodbye to Alex Rider: a treasured student, greatly admired athlete and irreplaceable friend." A quiet murmur erupted in the crowd before dying down just as quickly. Mrs. Bedfordshire raised a handkerchief up to the corner of her eyes, dabbing and blinking before continuing,

"There will be a few speakers, including Mr. Barron, Mrs. Cassidy and Brookland's own student Tom Harris. Mr. Harris, if you'd please come forward…"

0o0o0o

* * *

"Wolf, drive faster! We're going to miss it!"

"Cub, you could not _pay me_ to drive over the speed limit with you in the car like this. We were in a car accident barely a week ago."

"I'm serious!" he fumed.

"So am I!" barked Wolf, easing onto the breaks. Wolf's Camara slowed to a smooth stop before the light even turned red.

"What the hell was that? You could have totally made that light!"

"And gotten T-boned by that semi over there? I don't think so."

"Wolf, _THAT IS A SMART CAR! _That's it I'm taking the wheel–_"_

"Hey! Get your paws off me you undead little monster!"

* * *

0o0o0o

Tom was hustled over to the stage by a combination of Mia and James's efforts, but his entry was less than graceful: the spotlight hit him just as he stumbled onto the platform. Mrs. Bedfordshire retreated and Tom was forced to step forward, approaching the podium holding a piece of paper Mia had shoved into his hand at the last minute – presumably his speech. Pausing when he got to the podium, Tom swept his eyes over the crowd, desperate to see something that would render this whole ceremony unnecessary. Unfortunately, the spotlight had cast everyone other than him into darkness.

_Come on, Alex… _Tom thought to himself, still unwilling to truly treat his best friend's death as a reality. _Where are you? You wouldn't really miss the chance to crash your own funeral, would you?_

0o0o0o

* * *

The parking lot was packed, so Wolf broke his first law of the day by parking illegally. Getting into the school was easy enough, but getting into the auditorium proved to be another matter entirely. Approaching the doors, Alex was accosted by the two doormen.

"I'm sorry sir, but the memorial has already started and there's no more room," the first one informed him.

"There's no more room?" Alex repeated in delight, glancing back at Wolf with a broad grin. "How flattering!"

"Cub…" Wolf growled.

"Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that I need to get in here," he carried on seamlessly, attempting to shoulder past them. Two large hands wrapped around his shoulders, holding him in place. The grip of a stranger put him instantly on edge.

"Let go of me," he ordered in a hard voice, working as much serious intent into the words as he could. To his surprise the man actually complied, hands unclipping like a clothespin. The other doorman stared at his partner.

"Why'd you let go of him?"

The man seemed confused by his own actions. "I…"

"Oh, we don't have_ time_ for this."

Wolf stepped forward and wrenched the two men apart, reaching back to jam a thumb into a hidden pressure point. The first dropped only two seconds before the second, once Alex had done the same.

He reached out and grasped the handle, pulling the door open as quietly as he possibly could.

A single figure could be made out on the stage.

0o0o0o

* * *

The pause following Tom's entrance had stretched out into an awkward ten seconds of silence, finally broken when Tom cleared his throat and adjusted the microphone to accommodate his height. After one last look around the auditorium, he spoke.

"Hi," he started awkwardly, and as if to add to the strain of his introduction the microphone decided to emit an unpleasant screech. There was a collective wince before it cut off, and then Tom was continuing,

"Some of you may know me, and, well… some of you may not. I'm..." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "_I was_ Alex's best mate. And who more fit to brag about a dead person at their memorial than their best mate, right?"

Down in the audience Mia's stomach gave another uncomfortable lurch. Her brother caught the change in expression and asked,

"What's wrong with you? Are you pregnant?"

"He's not reading his speech," Mia responded, never taking her eyes off the stage. Tom was shuffling his feet, absently curling the corner of his speech paper with the tip of his finger.

"Alex wasn't just my best friend, or a good student, or a talented football player. You guys wanted to leave this out because he was an orphan, but he was a great son to both his guardians, too, and if people meet in the sky at the end of their lives then he's probably getting his parents all caught up on what they missed; I just can't see it happening any other way. See, Alex taught everybody something, and he taught me _everything._ I'm not too worried about people forgetting him anytime soon..."

Tom had to stop for breath. He was speaking quickly and continuously, as though he were on a time limit before his resolve collapsed and he returned to the catatonic state he'd resumed after the news of Alex's death reached him.

"To be honest I'm rubbish at speeches," he confessed. "Alex was better. Alex's speeches could – and often _would_ – conjure small armies on his behalf."

Nobody could accurately object to this statement. His former fanclub said it all.

"And he used to – he used to write these speeches for me. Or he'd – maybe he'd just make them up on the spot, he was amazing at improvising, better than any of you will ever know. He'd make these speeches to me whenever our team lost a game, whenever I failed a tough test, whenever a girl broke my heart and like a proper best mate he knew _just_ what to say to make me feel better, to get me smiling again – you all hear that a lot, right? 'Tom Harris, he's always smiling'. Well, how could I not, with a – with a guy like _that_ on my side?"

On the last word Tom's voice broke and he was forced to pause once again, ducking his head and inspecting his feet while he willed his emotions to keep away for one more minute.

He lifted his head, running his hands quickly across his face.

"This is all so messed up, because now it's me making the speeches and I'm rubbish at speeches and Alex would've written a much better speech for my funeral–" At this, he snatched up his original paper and crumpled it into a ball, revealing to the crowd that he wasn't reading it at all. "In fact he probably could have written a better one for his _own_ damned funeral. But he's not making any speeches anymore – not for me, not for this, not for anything."

"Tom…" Mia whispered, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You know I guess I should have thought of this, really, should have seen this coming, because maybe then I could have gotten his help writing it, but… I don't think I'm the only person in this room guilty of thinking that Alex Rider was indestructible."

Tom got angry after that. His former speech was pitched down into the scores of mourning people before Alex's inconsolable best friend took his leave, stepping down from the podium without another glance at his audience. Only the first few rows were able to catch his parting words.

"Obviously he was _not _indestructible. Because now he's just _dead."_

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex had his eyes trained sharply on the retreating form of his best friend. How could he possibly find a way to reach Tom? He was as far back into the auditorium as he could possibly be and the massive sea of people filling the room looked next to impossible to cross.

The way he saw it, there was only really one thing to do.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Alex filled his lungs with air before shouting at the top of his lungs,

"_ALEX RIDER SUCKS!_"

For a split-second nobody said a word. Nobody moved, nobody _squeaked_ – it was even plausible to say that for that split-second, nobody even dared to breathe. Then the row of people closest to Alex turned around, noticing him for the first time.

Celeste Waters was the first girl he ever went out with, back in year eight. She was also the first to open her mouth and scream.

This set off a chain reaction. A second girl began screeching, and then somebody shouted,

"JESUS BLOODY CHRIST, IT'S ALEX RIDER!"

The sea began to form a half-doughnut against the wall, pushing Alex back as prying hands reached out to investigate. "Is it a hologram?" he heard on his right. "Long lost twin?" "Look-alike?" "Celebrity double?" "Clone?" "Cloned _sheep?_" "Zombie!"

"Well," Wolf's voice registered just over his shoulder, quiet and full of mirth. "That's one way of doing it, kid. I think you've made your point…"

Wolf leaned back against the doors, seizing Alex's arm before throwing them open. They were already running when the first truly familiar voice reached Alex's ears.

"ALEX!"

He craned his neck to spot Tom fighting his way through the crowd, desperate to catch up to his friend. They locked eyes. At some point Tom had lost out in the battle to keep his face dry, and was now helplessly swiping at his tears with the back of his arm between shouts.

"_Alex!_" he wailed again, reaching out toward him.

Alex made a decision. Tearing himself out of Wolf's grasp, he turned around and ran straight for the crowd, deafened by the noise of the confused and panicked masses. He could tell it was getting dangerous for him – he'd been able to crush the instinct to fight by overriding it with flight, but now that he was throwing himself back into the fray the force became that much more difficult to resist falling into. It didn't help that his casted arm was being knocked around like a tetherball, and he knew for sure that many of the voices he was now hearing weren't actually there.

"_Capture him!"_

"_Kill him!"_

"_He never should have survived!"_

"_**Murderer!"**_

Somebody tried to wrap an arm around his neck in a headlock and Alex snapped, cocking a fist back in ready preparation to start throwing punches. Before he could act, however, two hands emerged from between the students in front of him, revealing a panting and trembling Tom. They locked eyes once again.

"Come on!" Tom roared, linking his arm with Alex's and hauling him off in the direction of the doors exactly how Wolf had done. Past that, sound and sight became a blur. He was only able to recognize about one in ten faces, and after a while the people he was seeing stopped making sense entirely. Blunt was standing by the vending machines. Ian was scrambling after him like a rabid animal. Up on the staircase landing leaning over the railing was Lana Knight, smirking down at him with her achingly familiar, predatory stare.

Alex closed his eyes tightly, allowing Tom to lead the way back out into the parking lot. They must have made it to the car before he next opened them, because as soon as he knew it Wolf was forcibly shoving him into the vehicle, slamming the door behind him and ducking into his own place at the driver's seat. A stranger's face smacked into his window, eyes flickering around the inside of the car ravenously.

"Drive, Wolf!" said Tom. "If they get behind the car you're stuck!"

"That's assuming I have a problem with killing civilians."

He jerked the gear shift into reverse, tearing out of the parking lot with none of his previous caution evident. As soon as they were safely on the road again Tom whipped off his seatbelt and leaped into the backseat, throwing his arms around Alex's neck in a tight hug. Alex returned the gesture gingerly, evening out his breathing in an attempt to quell the reaction that threatened to manifest itself against the physical contact.

"I knew you weren't dead," Tom whispered. Alex smiled, easing back just far enough so Tom could see his wry smile. He raised an eyebrow.

"Knew I wasn't dead and yet still gave a speech at my memorial…"

"I–" Tom was flustered. "It was only because Mia–"

"Hey," Alex cut him off, "I would have been pissed if you didn't. It was… it was the best eulogy I've ever had!"

Tom started to snicker, with the action slowly building into a full out laugh. Alex concluded that he was probably at least a little bit hysterical, clinging to Alex's arm with one hand and clutching his side with the other.

"Just don't have me doing it again anytime soon, okay?" he eventually wheezed.

"That one's gonna be tough to beat..." Alex mused.

"And 'Alex Rider sucks'?" Wolf inquired. The blonde shrugged.

"I knew it would draw attention," he explained simply.

"Oh it drew attention alright!" Tom cried, hugging his friend once more. "Dear God I missed you! Do you have any idea how much I missed you? I almost died without you in there! What the hell happened to you?"

"It's a long story," Alex said, and Tom didn't miss the way his eyes darkened or Wolf's shoulders tensed. He glanced between them.

"The last time I saw you was back at school, remember? When somebody tried to assassinate you. What happened to your arm?"

"I broke it in a car accident," Alex replied.

"When was there a car accident?"

"Shortly after I left the school…"

Wolf listened to the story Alex spun in relative silence, with a few interjections here and there, but when things started to become vaguer Wolf left it up to Alex to tell his best friend what he wanted to tell him. He smoothed over details about his imprisonment seamlessly, neglecting to mention any details on the torture he'd endured nor the hallucinogenic effects the drug his captors had administered to him had had. So Alex's story stuck mostly to the original order of events with the exception that the more damning parts for Alex were left out, sparing his friend the nasty imagery and doubts about Alex's surviving sanity.

"Man, I can't believe you were held prisoner for a _week_," Tom said dizzily once he was finished his recounting. "Wasn't it a week last time, too?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, "it was."

Wolf pulled into the driveway and the three moved into the house, Tom's questions seemingly endless. Alex answered each one without any obvious signs of discomfort, describing the hospitals he'd escaped from and even mentioning the little boy who'd defended him by biting one of his attackers. Tom had laughed and laughed at that one.

"So," he started up once he'd made himself comfortable at the kitchen table, "do Jack and Sabina know you're back from the dead?"

"Not exactly…" Alex muttered, turning away from his friend.

"He wasn't going to tell them right away," said Wolf.

Tom blinked.

"Why the hell not? You have to tell them! They're miserable!"

"I'm _going _to tell them," Alex replied, shooting Wolf a ruffled look. He got up and approached the fridge, rubbing the back of his neck as he examined the contents inside.

"Well… when?" Tom asked, easing his elbows onto the table. "I mean, no offense Alex, but if you were planning on going into hiding for a few days you probably shouldn't have showed up at your own memorial."

"I didn't really have a lot of other options," Alex explained. "MI6 wasn't going to intervene for me, and what kind of person would I be if I let all those people mourn my death? I couldn't very well show up a week from now and just take my regular old seat in biology, could I? I probably wouldn't even be enrolled anymore…"

"That's true, they do tend to un-enroll dead people without their permission. Pretty rude, that."

Alex withdrew a small orange, tossing one into Tom's waiting hands a second later. He made short work of peeling it, commenting again through a mouthful of pulp,

"Shut up. Besides, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I may not have to tell them at all – they might just… I don't know, find out."

"Alex," Tom began sternly, looking pointedly at his best friend, "you _cannot_ leave your guardian and your girlfriend to just _find out_ that you're still alive through some means or another. They would be furious. Wouldn't you be furious if you thought either of them was dead and they simply allowed you to keep believing it? Even though they knew it was tearing you apart?"

"Are you sure they haven't started to… to accept it?" Alex said softly. "To move on?"

Tom smacked Alex upside the head. "Alex, I love you, but you're a complete idiot."

Wolf nodded at this. "Very true. There isn't a chance in hell that they've even _begun_ to feel okay yet."

Tom sent him a grim smile. "Yeah. You saw _me,_ didn't you? I've been a wreck all week."

Alex bit his lip, popping another slice of orange into his mouth before stuffing his hand into his hair. "Yeah, you're right, you're right. It's just…"

Alex trailed off, staring down at the ground listlessly. They both waited for him to say something. He didn't.

"Alex?" Tom eventually ventured. Alex's eyes snapped back up to his.

"I'll tell them tomorrow. Tomorrow, alright?"

"You'd better hope reporters don't get to her before you do, because I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow's headline read 'Dead Kid Crashes Own Funeral'."

"I never actually _died_," Alex reminded him. "People are just quick to assume. I guess Brookland didn't get the memo on my incredible resilience... By the way guys, thanks for not having me cremated."

Neither man showed any sign of appreciating his joke.

0o0o0o

* * *

Alex took the day of school the following morning, waking up around nine to the company of an empty house. After discovering a note from Wolf stating he'd been called into his mechanic job, he decided to go for a run. Truth be told, he was ready to do anything that might help him abate his recent feelings of fragility and weakness. Plus, he was eager to take advantage of the lack of supervision, which he hadn't properly had since kicking the shit out of his MI6 babysitters.

He was out the door at a quarter past, dressed loosely in a pair of sweats and a white wifebeater. The sky was overcast, the best kind of weather for running, so the landscapes poured past him like the absent rain might have. He stuck mostly to residential areas until crossing the steep bridge into the city. Once there he rounded a delicious-smelling hot dog stand and turned the corner into a wide alley, startling a scruffy stray dog along the way.

He could feel the adrenaline burst into his veins when the mutt made a lunge for his ankle, but managed to escape mostly unscathed by throwing himself up the side of a fence too tall for the dog to leap over. Once on the other side he skidded to a halt, panting hard and slick with sweat. The run had reminded him of his hospital dashes, which reminded him of the fact that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the last week yet for longer than half an hour. Everything brought him back to his experiences in Carlisle.

_Happy thoughts,_ he reminded himself. He was met by the unwelcome voice of the Other Alex, as Alex had taken to thinking of it as.

"_Yeah kiddo, just think of rainbows and butterflies and Sabina's beautiful blue __**eyes…"**_

_God I wish you had a mute button._

Leaning back against the wall, Alex did a quick look around. He was in the narrow alley between two apartment buildings, so the scenery mostly consisted of tag graffiti, rusty green dumpsters and creaky fire escape ladders. Following one with his eyes, he traced the wrought-iron fixture up at least fifteen stories. The entire alleyway was shrouded in shadows, illuminated only because it was still daylight. Unless there were some hidden lights around, the place most likely fell into pitch black darkness as soon as the sun set.

Seeing that he couldn't return from the direction he came, Alex started down the dirty passage, shoes splashing in gasoline puddles and grinding across grime stains. Ahead of him, inky silhouettes began to pronounce themselves. Alex was able to identify two – no, three people upon his approach: two men and a woman.

The woman's arm was caught in the vice grip of one of the men, and while she wasn't fighting him, her entire body language had her leaning away from him, as though she were trying to shrink down until she became small enough to slip through his hold and make a break for it.

Internally sighing, Alex tried to tell himself: _it's none of your business, it's none of your business, it's __**none of your business…**_

"Let her _go!"_

A fourth person entered the dynamic, throwing himself at the woman's captor with all the fighting technique of a falling tree. If Alex had not just internally sighed a second earlier, he would have done so then. The newcomer was predictably tossed to the ground, a steel-toed boot finding its way into his gut followed quickly by another in the small of his back. The woman had opened her mouth to scream before a hand smacked over her mouth.

"Frankie, do we – _ow!_ What the _fuck…?!_ "

"Did that bitch just _bite_ you?"

"You're damn right she did…"

The woman, as Alex could tell now that he was but ten feet away from the group, was not your average back-alley broad. For one, she had purple hair, which sprung out from her head in rebellious little coils, and obnoxiously turquoise glasses too large for her face. She looked about in her mid to late thirties, far too old for the style she had adopted, with a noticeably pointy nose and a mole sitting just above her mouth. A mouth that was currently occupied in excessive talking.

"Joe, I know you think this is what you have to do, but I'm trying to tell you to _stop_ and _listen to me…_ Angelica gets out of school in fifteen minutes and if I'm not there–"

"You're not _fit_ to be her mother," Joe spat, wrenching her arm back and throwing the purple-haired woman off balance. "Just look at you! You're a joke!"

The woman remained calm. "It is not your responsibility to take care of my daughter in Will's place."

This only served the incense her two attackers. She was thrown the ground, narrowly missing a broken pipe that stuck out of the ground hazardously. "Will died because of _you!"_

"Will died five years ago!" she snapped, scrambling back toward the safety of the dumpsters. She was seized a second time, and when it looked like they were entering the territory of giving her an actual beating, Alex intervened, stepping out from behind the fire escape and holding his hands to show them he was unarmed. Frankie noticed him first.

"Who the hell are _you?_" he snarled, stepping in front of Joe and his captor.

"Ah, you don't really care about that… why don't you ask me what I'm about to _do?"_

There was a flash of uneasiness, and then Frankie was on his back, winded and wheezing for air. Alex had taken him down before Frankie had even realized he was being attacked, and was now headed for Joe with a look that had the man instantly backing away.

"Stay back," Joe warned Alex, who was standing above Frankie with one foot planted triumphantly on his stomach. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'll give you an out. Free your hostage and I'll… give you a head start. That sound fair?"

"You've been spying on us for a while," Joe hissed, his arm tightening around the woman's neck. He had her enclosed in a tight headlock from which she was currently trying to pry her way out of. "Didn't you see what happened to the last kid who tried to be a hero?"

"I did," Alex responded, stepping forward and approaching the curled up mound of former "hero" on the ground. The boy was out cold. Alex looked back at Joe.

"But I'm not trying to be a hero," he said, exuding the same nonchalance of someone simply taking a stroll through a park. "Let's say maybe… I just like hurting people?"

Joe released the woman and shoved her against the wall, pulling a knife out of the back of his jeans. He held it up in what looked like the least efficient knife-wielding form Alex had ever seen.

"You don't know who you're fuckin' with, kid, I'll tell you that…"

Alex eyed him critically.

"Have you ever actually used that thing?" he asked skeptically. "It looks pretty clean…"

Joe surged forward with a cry, thrusting the knife at Alex like a child trying to fence with a stick. Alex sidestepped and turned, essentially switching places with the thug. He inched back until he was completely obstructing the woman from Joe's view. Then Alex fell into an exaggerated martial arts pose, standing on one foot and lifting his casted left arm high above his head before gesturing with his hand for Joe to reapproach. Joe looked positively murderous.

"You've got no sense, kid! You're a dead man! You _mocking me_ now? You're going to _regret–_"

"Yeah, yeah… come at me already."

Joe made a similar battle cry to before, for whatever reason, and after some of the laziest maneuvering Alex had ever done, Joe lay on his side, down for the count and marinating in a gasoline puddle. Alex crouched down to make sure he was really unconscious before confiscating the tiny pocket knife. The he reached into Joe's jacket pocket, extracting a packet of cigarettes.

He eyed them warily.

Despite how calm he'd appeared throughout the exchange, Alex's heart was beating a mile a minute. He hadn't gotten into a fight since rescuing Wolf and ending things with Scorpia for good, and if either of the men he'd faced had had any ounce of professionalism on their side, Alex was sure he would've snapped. Contemplating the cigarettes, Alex nudged one out before placing it between his lips. He tucked the rest into his pocket, turning to face the woman he'd rescued. She was looking at him in apprehension.

"Got a light?"

Slowly, she reached into her purse to pull out a small box of matches. Alex accepted them gratefully, shooting her smile as he passed them back.

"I'm Andromeda," she blurted out, adjusting her glasses. Alex frowned.

"Bit of a mouthful, isn't it?"

"I suppose. Why did you… do all that?" she waved to the horizontal pair. "Fancy yourself a vigilante?"

Alex laughed, short and breathless. "Nah, I think that was your first rescuer's idea."

"Well. Just so you know, I knew those two. I was never in any real danger."

Alex dragged his foot over a broken shoelace, his eyes hopping from one stray piece of garbage to another. This alley looked like a darker, dirtier version of the one he'd spoken to Lana in. He returned his gaze to Andromeda, who seemed to be waiting for an answer from him. Alex exhaled, sending a cloud of smoke rising up above their heads.

"Is that so?" he muttered, retrieving the box of cigarettes as well as the antique cigarette case Dr. Powell had given to him, which he kept on his person as a sort of grounding device. In the process of switching over the contents, Andromeda noticed the name.

"Who's Heidi Ranger? Is that your mother?"

"No," Alex replied, "nobody that I ever knew."

"Why do you smoke?"

Alex gave her a sideways glance. "Aren't you being kind of nosy?"

"Yes. It's what I do. Who are you? You never introduced yourself."

Alex wasn't sure if he wanted to continue his conversation with the strange woman who was apparently professionally nosy, so he finished switching out the cigarettes and then moved on to where the young boy who'd initially intervened had fallen without replying. The boy was just beginning to stir in his unconsciousness, so Alex leaned down and yanked him back onto his feet, where he swayed and stumbled into Alex's chest before mumbling thickly,

"Did I hit my head…?"

"Yup," Alex told him, turning him around by his shoulders and gently pushing him toward where Frankie and Joe were splayed out on the concrete. "Right after you took these two out!"

The boy whipped around, eyes huge and disbelieving. "Seriously?"

"What, you don't remember? You did this crouching-dragon, hidden-tiger thing and then…"

"… _Seriously?"_ he sputtered. Alex nodded emphatically.

"Better call the police and report this act of justice being served before they wake up and start running! Which they will, if _you're_ still around…"

He threw an arm around the boy's neck and began leading him back out in the direction of the streets, leaning in and smoothing out his messy brown hair as they walked. The kid, who didn't look much older than fourteen or fifteen, was practically glowing beneath Alex's praise and his newfound hero status.

"Is this gonna be in the paper? Is my girlfriend gonna see it, do you think?"

"Wait!" Andromeda called after them. Alex's escape was placed on pause. He glanced back at her, raising an eyebrow. Andromeda had her eyes narrowed in scrutiny. She fiddled with the sleeve of her sweater as though unsure whether or not she should continue until finally coming to a decision.

"Are you okay?"

He wondered just what she was talking about. The bandages wrapped around his hands and fingers? The thick, unmarred cast enclosed around his left arm? Or maybe just his general appearance, which clearly had him looking a little worse-for-wear?

"Just fine, ma'am–"

"Not you," Andromeda cut the younger boy off, careful not to accidentally break the staring contest she and Alex had initiated. The cigarette she'd lit for him was still burning between his lips, and the smoke had just begun to obscure his eyes from her view.

"Me, then?" Alex pointed to himself. She nodded resolutely. He crossed one foot in front of the other like he was preparing to seriously contemplate the question, drawing her attention back down to the fact that he didn't look the least bit dressed for the location he'd found her in. It really did appear as though they'd caught him in the midst of a morning run.

_Paranoid._

_Uncomfortable._

_Stressed._

_Exhausted._

_Sore._

_Guilty._

_Mostly I just feel like I spent a week tied to a chair being drained of all physical and emotional willpower, how about you? _

"I'm so sick of that question," he finally sighed, shaking his head and turning away. "_Just fine, ma'am._"

With a wave over his shoulder he exited the alley, followed closely by the boy who refused to stop talking about making the news. While he continued to look over his shoulder at the two unconscious brutes, chattering incessantly, Alex resisted the urge to look back, a little afraid of those piercing eyes he could still feel burning holes into his back.

Alex's cigarette was tossed listlessly to the ground, landing below a drainpipe and dying with a quiet hiss.

0o0o0o

* * *

Eep… not totally sure how I feel about this chapter. I hope you liked it. The ending scene was tossed around more than I'd care to admit (and the one you are reading is the _fourth _result… damn you, misguided perfectionism!). I'm sorry for the lateness, but I've been really busy! Six courses is a lot for someone as hopelessly lazy as me. And, well, there was also this boy… you've all heard the story, it's always the same. On the plus side, this chapter has a good two thousand words on the last one! Even though I was trying to cut back…

To be honest, the longer I write this story the more deleted scenes pile up per chapter! I don't know if I should think of that as a good thing or a bad thing anymore…

LaB may or may not make it to forty chapters, but I'm inclined to say I will have it finished before then. Hopefully a projected finish line will have some of you wondering where I'm going with this feel a little better! I just have _so much_ planned… which may seem hard to believe, since so much has already happened :P

Thank you all for the love and support! Hit 500 favorites (and 666 follows… hehe) with the last chapter, which felt _so good!_

Now if I you guys could _please_ help me hit 900 reviews, some of my crippling self-doubt _may_ dissolve, decreasing chances of self-induced writer's block in the future… either that or just a really wicked critique to help me make this story better. I love all your opinions! Even if they make me do embarrassing happy dances in the company of others!

**Next chapter:** procrastination, stress-smoking, hair dye and _lies abound!_ Stay tuned!


	32. Big Fat Liar

"_Are you okay?"_

_He wondered what she was talking about. The bandages wrapped around his hands and fingers? The thick, unmarred cast enclosed around his left arm? Or maybe just his general appearance, which clearly had him looking a little worse-for-wear? He crossed one foot in front of the other like he was contemplating the question, drawing her attention back down to the fact that he didn't look the least bit dressed for the location he'd found her in. It really did appear as though they'd caught him in the midst of a morning run._

Paranoid. Uncomfortable. Stressed. Exhausted. Sore. Guilty. Mostly I just feel like I spent a week being physically and emotionally drained of all strength, you?

"_I'm so sick of that question," he finally sighed, voice tired. He shook his head, turning away. "__**Just fine, ma'am."**_

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 32

**Big Fat Liar**

"Cub, you home?"

The door slammed behind him, and then Wolf's head was poking out from around the corner, inspecting Alex's sleeping figure stretched out across the couch. He breathed a sigh of relief. Midday napping was exactly what Wolf wanted to see Alex doing while he was spending all day at home.

It had been two days since Alex crashed his own funeral, and he was staying out the limelight as much as possible. That being said, it didn't seem like he _needed_ to. He looked to be recovering just fine, as far as Wolf could tell. In fact, unless the blonde was doing anything _other_ than sleeping, having him around the house so much just seemed like a colossal waste of time – even with Tom bringing him schoolwork to catch up on.

Rest assured that this notion was not meant as a complaint. Somebody may have to be dying for him to admit it, but deep down, Wolf liked the company.

"Hmmm?" Alex slurred, shifting his casted arm into a more comfortable position. Wolf tossed his keys on the table before dropping into one of the chairs and asking from across the room,

"How're you feeling?"

"Like they put me on morphine," Alex told him, his loopy smile a perfect reflection of his drug-induced state. Wolf eyed him critically.

"Don't get too comfortable like that," Wolf warned, glancing away to inspect the walls. Comments like this were difficult for him to avoid making because Wolf's father had been a drug addict, but even knowing this, they annoyed the hell out of Alex.

"I'm not," the teen muttered, turning onto his side so that Wolf could no longer see his face. "Gotta heal, don't I?"

The danger wasn't really there, after all. They were both aware of how much Alex hated being in such a defenseless state, so Wolf had already stopped thinking about it, instead moving onto a new subject of interest. "Cub, don't you think it's about time you took the bandages off your hands?"

"I just switched them this morning," came Alex's response.

"Yeah, but they need air, too," he reminded him. "What happened to them, anyway?"

Alex shifted again, inserting a small pause in the conversation. "They broke all my fingers."

Wolf frowned. "… No, they didn't. You wouldn't have been able to hold a gun."

Alex held his hands up in front of his face, still lying on his back. He turned them over, inspecting them from various angles before shrugging. "Guess you're right."

Suspicion crept into Wolf's gaze, which was quickly shifting from confused to accusatory. Alex would never have made that kind of mistake had his bloodstream not been thick with anaesthesia.

"What happened?"

Alex didn't reply, so Wolf approached the couch and placed his hands on the armrest before leaning over Alex's face to get a better look. "Let's see them."

"No." He tucked his hands underneath his back, sending Wolf a bleary look that was probably meant to be fierce. Wolf rolled his eyes.

"Cub, cut the crap. Why are you trying to lie about it? Just let me see."

"I said _no."_

Taken aback by his vehemence, Wolf's curiosity peaked – and while the old Wolf might've smacked the kid upside the head before forcing him to unveil the wounds, the new Wolf had gained a couple of things called "tact" and "respect for others' wishes". So he stepped away and rubbed the back of his neck, peering down at Alex's defiant face inquisitively.

"Fine. You'll have to take those bandages off eventually, though – unless you want to wear gloves for the rest of your life."

"Well, maybe I'll move up north."

"You're too much of a baby to survive in a cold climate."

"Nu uh."

"It's true. You'd lose your tan, and then your fanclub as a result, and after that you'd probably just shrivel up and die from the loss of excessive attention."

Alex made a face. "Nu _uh."_

Wolf carried on seamlessly. "See, I have this theory that one of the reasons you survived your week of hell is because you don't actually _need_ to eat or sleep, you just charge yourself up on the copious amounts of attention you receive from others. It would certainly explain why you're so annoying and promiscuous."

"… It kinda would," he admitted with a yawn, throwing a hand over his eyes to shield them from the light. "Wait, was that an insult? I'm on too many drugs to tell anymore..."

"It was," Wolf confirmed gravely.

"Oh."

"Is this how all our banter is gonna go from now on? Because I could get used to this."

"Nooo…"

"Can you even move?" Wolf poked the back of his head, prompting Alex's good hand to swing up and try to swat Wolf's away. Unfortunately it missed by a good two feet before dropping uselessly to the ground with a resounding _thud_. A laugh was torn from Wolf lips.

"Oh, the jokes I could play on you right now."

"You wouldn't. I'm too helpless. Where's the merit?"

"The merit is in laughing at you after I put your hand in a bowl of warm water and–"

"Do that and I swear I will–" He broke off mid-sentence, like he'd been interrupted by someone. Wolf raised an eyebrow.

"You'll…?" he prompted. Alex exhaled slowly, biting his lip.

"Just don't do it," he muttered. Wolf's puzzlement was written all over his face, but he decided to give up and let the boy sleep.

"Don't worry, you're safe – that's _my_ couch you're lying on, remember? Get some more sleep, kid. I'll see you for dinner."

Wolf turned and left, heavy footsteps echoing above Alex's head as he disappeared up the stairs. For a while Alex didn't move, arm still draped over his face, until eventually he lifted it away and allowed both hands to hover above him once more. Pinching the end of the white tape between his teeth, he slowly started to unravel them, dropping the loose gauze onto the floor next to the couch.

The twin X's had been stitched at the hospital and now glowed an angry shade of red. The longer he looked at them, the bigger and more exaggerated they grew. He knew it was just a product of his dwindling hallucinations, but it was difficult to ignore all the same. Rolling over, Alex's eyes suddenly found themselves locked with another's.

"Hiya."

Alex sat bolt upright, arm instinctively snapping out to slash at the air in an attempt to dispel the image. The figure stepped back just in time to avoid the blow.

"No…" Alex snarled. "_No_ way."

Standing before him was none other than a perfect replica of himself: Alex Rider, smirking at him as though peeking out from some demented, hellish mirror. He was wearing the same dark blue pyjama bottoms as Alex – in fact, every physical detail was exactly the same, down to the shape of the red stain on the side of his shirt. Other Alex grinned and commented as though reading his mind,

"Eerie, isn't it?"

"No no no no no no," Alex mumbled quickly, scrambling over the back of the couch and receding into the kitchen so as to put as much distance between he and the Other Alex as he could. Other Alex continued to look completely at ease, licking his lips and inspecting his wrapped fingers.

"Something wrong?"

"I – I can't handle this," he stammered, hands crushing the edge of the countertop as he remained a safe distance away from his double opposite of the kitchen island. "Anything but this. Go away, _please."_

"Kiddo, _you_ brought me here. I'm nothing. I'm just a figment of your imagination."

He strolled toward the countertop, forcing Alex to shift to the other side so that it stayed evenly between them at all times. "Your twisted, masochistic imagination…"

"_I_ did not _ask_ for this!" he said, trying to keep his voice low so that Wolf wouldn't hear him. He had one foot poised in the direction of the exit. Other Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Scared of your own reflection? That's pretty pathetic. Do you really hate yourself that much?"

"Well, right now I do," he snapped, raking a hand through his hair. "Oh, God, how do I get rid of you?"

"Kill yourself," Other Alex suggested brightly. Alex grit his teeth.

"After all the surviving I just did? Not likely."

He made a break for the doorway at the same time Other Alex did, just managing to beat him through it. Without saying a word to Wolf he left the house, snatching his keys off the table by the door and making a split-second retreat into his car. He wasn't supposed to be driving, and he was pretty sure there was some law against driving barefoot, but right then Alex didn't care – all he cared about was getting _out._

He was driving for about fifteen minutes until Other Alex rematerialized in the passenger seat. When Alex caught his own gaze he jumped, shooting the hallucination a vicious glare. Other Alex offered a small wave, waggling his fingers.

"Mind if I change the song?"

There was no music playing, but Alex was determined not to look at Other Alex, let alone speak to him. A hand identical to his own reached out to grasp the knob of the radio, easing the volume up. Static was starting to fill the car, becoming louder and heavier the longer that Alex ignored it. Pressing hard on the gas pedal Alex eventually snapped, slamming on the breaks as they turned abruptly into a parking lot. Both Alex and his reflection surged forward with the gravity of the action, and the car's wheels screeched unpleasantly against the asphalt, shattering the static and leaving Alex's ears ringing from the instant silence. When he glanced back at the passenger seat, Other Alex was gone.

Alex released a shaky sigh, stepping out of the car and looking around. The parking lot he'd pulled into was situated just in front of a beach, so Alex decided to stick around and calm his nerves a little. Both the drive and the physical manifestation of the voice that had been taunting him the past few days had left him feeling seriously rattled, and his hands were aching from clutching the steering wheel so tightly.

The sky was bleak and overcast when Alex collapsed onto the rocky shore, staring out at the calm ripple of the waves. It was still beautiful, even with all the grey. His heart rate was decreasing to something a little more manageable just from the sight of it. He was contemplating buying an inflatable raft and escaping to sea when a voice cut into his fantasizing.

"Well what _are_ the chances…"

Alex turned his head to look at the source of the comment, expression quickly turning incredulous. Lana Knight was perched at the end of an old, washed up beach log, smiling at him from around a cigarette. She was wearing a black trench coat and a packet of Malboros could be seen poking out of her pocket.

"Lana?" he muttered, squinting at her. "What the hell? What are you doing in Chelsea?"

She shrugged. "I have my reasons. To my credit, I _was_ trying to avoid you. Didn't think you'd be going on field trips so soon after your homecoming – and alone, too…"

He stared at her for a second longer, trying to process the unlikelihood of running into her after their last goodbye. A warm feeling was spreading in his chest, something he wasn't quite so familiar with – a feeling of innate safety.

Her words finally registered in his mind and he shook his head, shrugging a second later. "I don't like to be idle," he said. "Seriously, what are you doing in Chelsea? Shouldn't you be back in America?"

"Unfinished business," she continued to evade his question. "Trust me, I'm just as sick of your accent as you probably are of mine… but it looks like I'm stuck here a little longer."

He turned back to the sea, watching a seagull soar up into the clouds and change direction with an effortless tip of its wing. "Well, at least you're enjoying the view."

"Trying to," she snorted. "So. How are you holding up post-adventure?"

_Adventure_ seemed like the funniest joke he'd ever heard. "Ha, ha. You are hilarious." He pawed at the sand with his good hand, extracting a broken seashell and twirling it between his fingers absently. "I'm… dealing with it, I guess."

"Break anybody's nose yet?"

"Almost."

"That's an improvement," she pointed out. He shrugged.

"I guess."

"And the reunion with the girlfriend went okay?"

His silence answered _that_ one pretty easily. "So you haven't told her."

"It's only been a few days, dammit!"

"Sure, sure…"

"Don't judge me!"

"She's your _girlfriend_. Don't you want to see her? She thinks you're _dead_, for Christ's sake…"

"I _do_ wanna see her!" he burst out, flailing helplessly. The seashell found itself soaring over the sands and bouncing off the surface of the ocean a second later. "But she's going to want to get back together and I'm _really bad _at saying no to her!"

"I wasn't aware you two had broken up."

"We – well, we hadn't. But you know. I died."

"Did you _want_ to break up?"

"Why do you even _care? _Don't you have better things to do than talk to me about my relationship problems?"

"Evidently not," she teased, sweeping a hand over the gentle picture of the beach to remind him where she was. "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. I just figured you weren't talking about it with anyone else…"

Alex sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You're not wrong," he said. "Tom – my best mate, Tom, he's been pushing at me about it, I just…"

He stood up and turned to look at her square in the eye, burning with supressed emotion. She blinked at him, silently awaiting an answer.

"Can we run?" he asked suddenly. "Let's run."

She stood up and followed him as he leaped up onto the rocks and driftwood that would take them out onto the running path. Once there the two of them were off, Lana trailing a couple feet behind Alex as he ran with no real direction to his route. The run carried them away from the beach and into a nearby national park, muddying their shoes and forcing them to take their next break at the base of an aspen in a little grove of trees. There was a three second interval between both of them firmly planting their feet on the ground and Alex blurting out,

"I don't want to tell Sabina I'm alive because I could just as soon be dead again tomorrow – or worse, _she_ could, which is ten times more likely if she's my girlfriend, because my girlfriend is to me what I am to MI6 – a bargaining chip, something of blackmail value to be endangered as a means to somebody else's end. It's happened to her twice and she'll let it happen a third time if I don't put a stop to it, and I _know_ this, but I also know that the second I lay eyes on her I'm going to forget about _all_ of that and kiss her till she's bloody _blue in the face_ and then we'll be right back where we started because I'm just _waiting _for this entire situation to repeat itself – it _always_ does and it _always _will until the day I drop dead and _stay there."_

He was breathless by the end of it, crouched down with his hands grasping his knees for the support to stand. Lana was watching him calmly.

"This is a little above my pay grade, Alex."

He shot her a half-hearted glare. "Sorry."

"Yeah, right. You're not sorry, you're desperate."

"Am I really so transparent?" he said sourly.

"Knock it off. I'm gonna tell you my phone number, and if you can memorize it you can use it to call me. Just don't do anything crazy, Alex…"

That word travelled up the base of his spine with the same dreadful anticipation as a stick-legged spider, grappling up vertebrae by vertebrae. "I'm not crazy!" he snapped.

"Did I _say _you were crazy? Jeez… Listen, the next time you're teetering on _the edge…_" Alex's hand twitched. "Just pull out your phone and dial 020-285-1196. If I'm still hanging around, I'll do my best to calm you down."

Alex's phone took that moment to assert its presence by bursting out into garbled ringing. Lana turned her head and examined the path they'd entered from, taking a step in its direction.

"Are you going?" Alex asked, pulling his phone from his pocket. Lana turned but continued to walk backwards, calling as she went,

"I'm sure you'll see me again."

She vanished into the trees just as Alex finally pressed answer, bringing it up to his ear.

"Alex? Where the hell did you just go? Did you take your car?"

"I – yeah, I did. Sorry, I should have said something. I just felt like going for a drive."

"You're not supposed to be driving around aimlessly. Are you at the girls' place?"

He was referring to Sabina and Jack, of course. Alex frowned, rubbing the side of his neck and peering around the small clearing. It was somewhat of a natural wonder, buried far enough into the woods that he couldn't hear the cars and the appearance of other explorers seemed unlikely. What little sunlight to escape the heavy clouds could be spied sliding in between the cracks of branches and leaves above, illuminating the overgrown grass in shifting diamonds of light on the forest floor.

"Uh, no."

There was a pause on the other line. "Okay, whatever. Look, I sorta… fucked up."

Dread immediately flooded Alex's stomach as he prompted in a low voice, "What did you do…"

"Well, see, I – uh… why don't you come home and I'll tell you in person…"

"Are you going to show me something that's going to make me want to kill you?"

"No. But your reaction is going to make _me_ want to kill _you."_

"I see. So it's funny then. Your misfortune, I presume?"

"Brat." Wolf hung up.

By the time Alex made it back to the house Snake and Fox's van had found its way into his parking spot behind Wolf's Camaro. The front door was unlocked so Alex slipped in unnoticed, approaching the kitchen. Three raised voices could be heard before he'd even stepped onto the doormat and only grew louder and he approached. The tap was on and Wolf was snarling something through half a mouthful of water.

"–don't know where you heard that but I'm sure as hell _not_–_mfgh!_ St – _fbhfj!_ Stop it, Fox, stop!"

Alex noticed three things upon walking into the room: First, Eagle was missing. Second, the front of Wolf's shirt was soaked. And third, Wolf's hair was blue.

He instantly burst out laughing, drawing the room's occupants' attentions to him and taking a projectile Granny Smith to the temple as a result. Rubbing the side of his head, Alex finally managed to rasp,

"Wolf, what happened… what happened to your _hair?"_

"_Shut up!"_ Wolf snarled, leaning over to push his head beneath the running tap and start scrubbing furiously at his hair with his hands.

Snake and Fox glanced over at the blonde, offering him friendly, albeit hesitant smiles.

"Cub… welcome back," Fox said warmly. He pulled a chair out from the table, offering the seat to him. Alex's expression sobered as he registered how earnest both men seemed in their welcoming attitudes. He tried to go along with it.

"It's good to _be_ back," he replied, trying for a repeat of his earlier grin. None of the men could confirm if it really met his eyes, but it was certainly an improvement from his attitude during the car ride back to the hotel in Carlisle.

"It's really great to see you." Snake rushed into the sentence, probing him with his eyes and gauging Alex's reaction. They were trying not to walk on glass around him, most likely for his sake, but he couldn't really blame them for being awkward. The last time he saw them he hadn't exactly been his "normal self". To get back to that, Alex replied flippantly,

"Right back atcha, Snake. Don't worry, I was always coming back – I'm not really the _dying_ type."

"The dying type. _Right_," Snake repeated dubiously, but Alex's smile had disarmed him, and it was obvious that both he and Fox were prepared to quickly fall back into the rhythm of how things had been before Alex's kidnapping. This came as both a relief and an omen to Alex, who was _not_ back to the way he'd been pre-kidnapping and despite _knowing_ this was now setting himself up to look like he was.

"Guys, we all know Cub's back now. Can we return to the matter at _hand,_ please?"

"You mean the matter _on your head? _Not sure if there's much else we can do about that, mate."

"It's not that noticeable," Snake told him with a comforting pat of the shoulder, trying and failing to repress a wince at his own words.

"You winced when you said that."

"Wolf, really, it's not _blue_. It's more of a bluish-gray-black."

"Or like, dark-grayish-blue…"

"Blue-tinged black. Black with a hint of cobalt."

"… the fuck is cobalt?"

"It'll look great with denim," Snake chimed in.

"You can bring back jean jackets!" Alex suggested brightly. "I did that once."

Fox scoffed. "Ew, tell me you're joking."

"It was a beautiful jean jacket!"

"Enough!" Wolf wailed, tearing at his hair in desperation. Fox responded by hastily shoving something into Wolf's hands which he seemed reluctant to take, but once Alex broke back down into hysterics Wolf gave up and snatched it out of Fox's hands.

"You sure this is going to fix it?" Wolf growled, holding up the green bottle and eyeing it critically. Fox was nodding emphatically.

"I googled it!" he explained.

"Very reassuring."

"What, you want me to call my hairdresser for a second opinion?" he demanded, turning to the sink and adjusting the temperature of the water. "My personal stylist maybe?"

"You know, none of you ever actually told me what he did to end up this way," Alex said, sidling up to the pair and examining the counter space. Spotting a box next to the sink, he picked it up and mumbled,

"… Box dye for beards? Wolf… you don't have a beard."

"You don't say?" he all but snarled. Alex tossed the box back onto the counter while Wolf watched it sail through the air with hatred.

"I got this comment today," he admitted. "From this woman at the supermarket. Compared me to Holden Caulfield. So I asked why and she said, 'you hadn't noticed?' Turns out I have all these gray hairs coming in and like, hell, I don't remember the last time I looked at myself closely in the mirror so I… may have sorta panicked and grabbed the first box of dark hair dye on the shelf…"

Alex snorted. "What, and you didn't notice the very obvious 'for use on facial hair _only' _warning sticker?" He tapped the box, drawing Wolf's eyes back to the cheerful yellow sticker.

"I saw it," he confessed reluctantly, "just not until I was already home. Figured it was more of a guideline than anything else. I didn't think it would dye my hair_ blue!_"

"Wolf… you're an idiot…"

"So he called you guys for help?" Alex asked, turning to Snake and Fox. Fox puffed his chest out proudly.

"You bet. Dish soap strips hair dye and Wolf was fresh out, so I brought some over."

"Where's Eagle?"

Neither Snake nor Fox had a reliable answer to that question.

"He's around," Fox supplied, face smooth. Alex's eyes narrowed a fraction.

"With Sadie, no doubt," Snake interjected. "I talked to her the other day. She and Eagle have mostly just been holed up in their flat, probably making out. I asked her if she'd spoken to Jack or Sabina in the last few days and she told me she hadn't. And Cub… neither have you."

Before arguing, Alex attempted to flee the confrontation by escaping into the living room, muttering something about his meds. He was promptly followed.

"This is no longer up for debate," Fox stated. Alex ran a hand through his hair, swiping a bottle of painkillers off the coffee table and swallowing one before dropping onto the couch and relaxing into the plush leather.

"I know. I know."

Fox sat down next to him. "Do you? You need to start facing things again. I know you're still healing, and I respect that, but what about Tom? He's avoided telling anyone anything about you and your classmates have been giving him hell for it."

"You've been talking to Tom?"

Wolf took this moment to cut in. "Actually, I have. Look, it's okay if you're not ready to go back to school, but you can't ignore _everything._ I didn't want to have to say this, but if you don't tell Sabina and Jack that you're okay–"

"_I will,"_ Fox snapped, and the ferocity in his words had Alex's gaze snapping up to meet Fox's. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his expression left no room for argument.

"Obviously the whole thing will go over a lot better if _you_ just show up at their door," Snake put in, "and maybe don't mention right away how long we waited to let them know you're back from the dead."

"Or the fact that you told your entire school before them."

"But Cub, it's gotta be today."

"_Why wait? It's too late for them anyway."_

Alex sunk deeper into the couch, remaining stonily silent. The three other men exchanged glances, seemingly unsure how to take his reluctance. While Wolf had warned them of Alex's hesitancy to reconnect with the women in his life, Fox's frustration still managed to get the better of him.

"Why is this even an argument?" he demanded. "Don't you want to see them?"

He stared down at the blonde, whose eyes clung listlessly to the floor.

"_Cub!"_

Alex's head snapped up. Fox's expectant gaze was so acute that it may well have been burning holes into his skin. A wave of heat swept through Alex's body.

"No," he said boldly. Fox frowned.

"No? What do you mean, _no?"_

Alex stood up, bringing him in very close proximity with Fox's face. Fox's eyebrows furrowed, but he didn't take a step back. There seemed to be a kind of emotional static electricity in the air, binding their conflicting presences together like the two opposing sides of a magnet.

"I don't want to see them. I'm a mess," he responded coolly, gesturing at the still-healing shiner he'd taken to the cheekbone. Fox was reflecting a similar level of warmth.

"You seem fine to me!" he snapped, and Alex withdrew instantly, stepping back from the darker haired man. He glanced away, uncomfortable

"Right," he said, much quieter. "Fine. Always."

Wolf grabbed Fox's arm and roughly shoved him to the side, shooting the man a glare just as Fox's shoulders began to sag. He didn't look as angry anymore.

"Cub – I didn't mean it like that, you know I didn't. I just mean that I know it would mean everything to them just to see you and–"

"Fox," Wolf cut him off, standing between the two, "_shut up–"_

"No," Snake entered the argument, "don't tell him to shut up. He's got a point. It's not like he's bedridden, Wolf. Fox isn't asking for a lot considering what the girls are still going through right now."

"He's only been home for a few days–"

"Long enough to out himself to his entire school!" Fox pointed out.

"That was – that was different–" Alex started.

"Yeah," Snake cut him off, "this is a lot easier! Alex – we're talking about your guardian, your _best friend_, _Jack_, and – and your own girlfriend! Don't you have any respect for them?"

Alex appeared openly torn now. He stepped back from the group that had closed in around him, feeling suddenly claustrophobic. Wolf seemed at a loss for words on how to defend him. He looked to Alex, awaiting an explanation, and Alex floundered.

"I just–" he swallowed thickly. Dark spots took this opportunity to begin blotting out parts of his vision. He blinked rapidly, stepping back once more, and then grabbed at his side when a stab of pain protested all the sudden movement as of late. The painkillers weren't acting fast enough.

"I don't think it's going to help," he said weakly, "to show up looking like I'm about to fall apart."

"They think you're dead!" Fox barked. "As if they'll care what you look like!"

"Fox…" Wolf muttered in warning. "Stop shouting."

Fox spun on him. "Oh, that's cute, Wolf. _You_ telling someone to stop shouting."

"Are you going to start taking this out on me?"

"Are you going to keep babying Cub so he doesn't bolt again?"

"Is that what you think?" Alex asked, stung by the idea. "That's why you're being so nice?"

"_No_," Wolf emphasized, tearing his angry gaze away from Fox's face just long enough to lock eyes with Alex. This turned out to be a more damning move than a reassuring one.

"It is…" Alex said slowly, "isn't it."

"No–"

Snake circled around to get between Wolf and Alex, separating the two before it came to blows.

"Look, Cub, don't get mad at Wolf! That's not exactly an unfair concern! You ran before–"

"Yeah, because–!"

Alex broke off, biting his tongue. The group waited quietly for him to continue.

"… _Because?_" Fox eventually prompted, raising his eyebrows.

"It wasn't safe," he muttered, defeated.

"_They don't believe you…"_Other Alex whispered in a sing-song voice. Alex swallowed.

"That's what you always say. And I have a feeling that's what you're going to _keep_ saying until we get you on a faster track to recovery."

Snake and Wolf both glanced at Fox, who continued, "You're going to need to start seeing a–"

"Oh you are not about to say shrink. Don't start this; not now."

"_Yeah, you're just fine on your own, aren't you kiddo?"_

"When, then? You're just avoiding the inevitable! Talking to the girls, going to school, therapy – and you can't keep it up forever."

Wolf had stopped defending him – now it was three against one. Alex trembled in the face of the soldiers, who looked equal parts angry and concerned.

"You keep saying 'tomorrow'…" Wolf added quietly, trailing off. "They're not going to stay in the dark forever, you know. It's only a matter of time until they find out from someone… and you're _not_ planning on fleeing Chelsea, are you?"

"Don't _ask_ me that!" Alex snapped, stuffing his hands into his hair. It was obvious to them all that the conversation was stressing him out, but even if Snake and Wolf had begun to shuffle uncomfortably, Fox wasn't making any exceptions.

"Why shouldn't he?" Fox asked, baffled. "It's the easiest question ever. Just tell him no, Cub."

Alex's eyes met Fox's, wide and upset, without blinking for a good eight seconds of agonizing silence until Alex finally glanced over at Wolf and Snake. Neither man was offering their support to Fox or Alex, but had shifted into merely observing the argument. Alex grimaced.

"This is absurd. You guys really think I'm going to run. You _really_ need to hear this!"

"Yes!" Fox all but shouted. Snake jumped at the outburst. "You ran and _we don't get it_ and now you're back but we – we don't get _you!_ So _yes_ we need to hear it and – and _I_ need to hear it and _goddammit_ don't try and tell me that's unreasonable! You _ran!_ Why'd you run, Cub?"

"It wasn't safe!" he shouted back. Fox's anger was only augmented by those words. He closed the distance between them, nose-to-nose with the blonde.

"Don't you think it's about time you told us what that meant? Don't you think you owe us some – _any – _kind of explanation for what you did back in Carlisle? What you're doing now? Or – what – you don't think you owe us _anything?"_

"Fox! Settle the fuck down!" Wolf snarled, grabbing Fox's arm. Fox threw himself back from the grasp, wrenching his arm away and careening into Alex's chest from the sudden manoeuvre. Alex's hands came up to catch him by the shoulders, fingers digging into the hollow of the man's collar bones, and Fox immediately leaped back to whirl around and shoot him a glare.

"Or how about your hands!" he raged on. "Wolf told us that you're–"

"That is _enough!"_

Alex looked stricken, glancing between the two men. His hands were the _last_ thing he wanted to talk about.

"He doesn't need you to defend him!" Fox fumed.

"Evidently _he does!"_ Wolf bit back, voice ringing with fury. "What the _hell, _Fox! It's been three days! He'll fucking tell us when he feels a bit better, how about that?"

"It's not that simple! It's _Cub!"_

"And what does _that_ mean–" Alex growled before he was cut off.

"You _hide_ things! You always hide things!" Fox responded shrilly. "When we came back I thought this nightmare was going to be _over. _Is it – is it safe _now? _They're all dead, Alex! We took them out for you! So _when_ is it going to end with you? When are you going to stop hiding things for 'our' sake? It's bull! You're just scared!"

"You're waiting for it to end?" Alex repeated warily. "Fox, it… it doesn't end. It's not like that."

"If you could see someone, talk to someone about all this–" he pointed at Alex's forehead, "everything in your head that's messing you up and making you miserable and ahh–! Shut up! I can see it! If you would just talk to someone _competent, _not some half-wit MI6 shrink in his eighties then I think… I think it _could_ end, Cub…"

"_It's not real, kiddo… it's just in your head. All that danger's just in your head."_

"No," Alex ground out, and Fox did a double-take.

"Excuse me?"

"It's not just in my head. I work for the British Intelligence. People want me dead. It's not going to end by pure force of will."

"It's gotta end sometime, Cub," Snake broke in gently.

"_You can end it…"_

All three men had paused, waiting for him to comment further, but they no longer had full grasp on the situation. Alex had begun to retreat in his own mentally-fucked up way once more, unwittingly letting in that dark force which had plagued him since he'd torn Flint apart in the forest behind the rendezvous parking lot.

His vision was darkening. Wolf, Snake and Fox were all becoming blurry and unfocused, drifting away from him as though carried off to sea. Alex's breath hitched and the world grew less and less familiar. He looked down at his mummified hands, which were no longer hiding the red X's engraved into his palms. And then, without any knowledge as to where he'd acquired it, he was holding a gun.

"_**You can always end it."**_

His breathing picked up until he was on the verge of hyperventilating. Clutching the gun to his chest, he shut his eyes and forced his thoughts off of that path. _I don't want this gun,_ he thought fiercely. _I don't __**want it!**_

"–ey, Cub, are you with us?"

He blinked and found himself six inches away from Wolf's hovering face, nervous and concerned. Then he glanced down and swallowed hard. The gun was still in his hand. He flexed his fingers; the metal felt cool and hard, as real as any other gun he'd ever held. None of soldiers seemed all that troubled by his armed state, so he concluded that the gun was most likely a figment of his imagination. He squeezed his eyes shut and then looked back down.

It was still there.

Shaking, Alex willed his fingers to uncurl from around the handle, willed with all his might for the muscles in his hand to relax and for his finger to fall away from the trigger.

No cigar. It was stuck there like glue and it had started to hurt.

"Fuck," Alex whispered, trying not to panic.

"Cub?"

"_What?"_ he barked.

Wolf was gazing at him like his damn mother might, doe-eyed with worry. "What's wrong?"

"Get – _stop!"_ Alex stammered, swinging away from the close scrutiny. "Just stop for a minute! It's fine, Wolf!"

"What are you talking about?" Wolf demanded, baffled.

"I just–" he shook his hand, trying to force the hallucination to dispel. The gun was still locked there, and as a result he couldn't stop feeling like he was in mission-mode. He had goosebumps running all up his arms and adrenaline had forced its way into his bloodstream, clashing with his pain medication and making his whole body feel off-kilter. Wolf noticed and reached out to snatch up his wrist.

"What's wrong with your hand? Why's it all locked up like that?"

"There's nothing wrong with my hands!" Alex had already started trying to pull away. Then a voice cut in from behind them.

"You're never gonna change," Fox grunted darkly. Snake and Wolf both turned their heads to send him twin looks of alarm.

"You're never going to let anyone help you. You have to be chained to a bloody chair and at someone's _complete mercy_ before we get any kind of opportunity to help you, and even then, it's like – it was like you were _determined_ not to let us just end it and come home with us. After everything."

Alex's shoulders slumped. "Fox…"

"After _everything."_

Fox stormed out of the room, refusing to look at Alex any longer. The blonde watched him leave in distress, speechless as to how to reconcile things with him. Wolf and Snake looked more disappointed than anything else, and it wasn't until the front door had opened and slammed shut that Wolf released Alex's wrist.

A couple beats passed before anyone said anything.

Then Snake said,

"I don't know what to say."

He left shortly thereafter.

0o0o0o

* * *

I know this chapter had a lot of angst and talking but I swear I'll be introducing more plot soon… I just need copious amounts of time to agonize over it first. *cringe* The next one will be better, really! I felt kinda rushed to finish and publish it since it's almost June already…

Three items to announce: first, I changed the story cover! Do you guys like it?! I feel like it's an improvement. Second, and I forgot to mention this last chapter when it actually happened, but this story breached 200k words! Holy smokes! (Shout-out to** loolypopgoop** for the reminder!)

And finally, the 900th review was claimed by none other than… me! BWAHAHA! (This would have been the honour of **Long-Vuong** had I not decided to obnoxiously claim my own 900th review.)

Also, I… I'm sorry guys. It's been a few months and I dropped the ball. I even reached 900 reviews so I have no excuse. And while I poured over each one crying big blubbery tears of happiness, I was also really busy with end of the year coursework, getting my life and job back home in order and… well I might have started seeing _the actual_ _cutest boy ever_. (But I won't get into that.)

Cool news on my end: me, said boy and his brother are all saving to backpack Thailand in the fall. Good for me, possibly not the best news for you guys. I hear the wifi over in Thailand aint quite as accessible as it is here…

I'll just have to get plenty of writing done before then!

Note: the name of this chapter may or may not be a reference to the 2002 film… this is a joke. I do not recommend anyone go hunting down that film. However classic the scene with the blue dye was…

**Next chapter:** dinner dates with bigwigs, anal parasites, betrayal, and has the eagle flown the nest?! Stay tuned…


	33. The Other

"_You're never gonna change," Fox grunted darkly. Snake and Wolf both turned their heads to send him twin looks of alarm._

"_You're never going to let anyone help you. You have to be chained to a bloody chair and at someone's __**complete mercy**__ before we get any kind of opportunity to help you, and even then, it's like – it was like you were __**determined**__ not to let us just end it and come home with us. After everything."_

_Alex's shoulders slumped. "Fox…"_

"_After __**everything.**__"_

_Fox stormed out of the room, refusing to look at Alex any longer. _

0o0o0o

* * *

Chapter 33

**The Other**

Ding, dong… Ding, dong…. Dingdongdingdongdingdong–"

"Knock it off, Tom!" Alex shouted, wrenching the front door open. The shorter teen greeted him with a wide smile and a cheery wave.

"Hi Alex! Did you know they gave out interim reports today? You're doing surprisingly alright for a kid who spent a week of the semester dead."

Alex frowned and reached out to take the small manila envelope from his friend's hands, eyeing the top where it had been torn open rather unceremoniously. Tom followed the path of his gaze and commented with a sheepish scratch of the head,

"Hope you don't mind; I opened it to take an early glance." Alex rolled his eyes.

"I'd have been surprised if you hadn't, honestly... I'm passing everything?"

"Somehow, yes. Although you might want to pay some special attention to your maths mark in the near future. Missing the lessons probably hasn't been making the homework all that easy to catch up on."

"Sure the teachers didn't just bump my grade after the whole memorial fiasco?" Alex asked, licking the tip of his finger and flipping through the pages. There were some scribbled remarks about his performance in classes, mostly awkward lukewarm praise and hesitant "get well soon"s – well, understandable since they still hadn't been told what he was getting well _from._

"They're just teeming with curiosity, Alex."

Alex glanced up, inspecting his best friend carefully. He leaned in closer, projecting concern, and Tom backed off down a step with a wary raise of his eyebrows.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you getting enough sleep? You look tired."

Tom interrupted his mothering with a sneeze.

"Coming down with something? We have all kinds of medications in the cabinet upstairs, something for everything. Come on in–"

Tom was already waving him off. "I'm fine, Alex, really, school's just been wearing me out lately. Besides, I haven't got time to pause for a cup of tea. You're not my only stop."

"I never offered tea," Alex replied waspishly, withdrawing back into the doorway. "Stay for a little longer? I'm bored…"

"So catch up on some coursework."

"That's all I _do._"

"Well–"

"_Please?"_ Alex fixed him with his wide-eyed, desperate gaze, pulling out all the stops.

"Look, Alex, I'm busy," Tom responded, uncharacteristically crisp. He was already turning away. "Not today, I'm afraid, but I'll stop by in another day or two. Bye."

Alex had all of about two seconds to contemplate Tom's rush and come up with a reason to stop him. "Wait!" he blurted out, clutching the doorframe and leaning out once again. He didn't seem hugely keen on actually stepping foot outside the house, although his toes curled out over the bottom of the frame, flexing in anxious little waves.

Tom turned and peered across the yard. "Yes?"

Alex ran a hand through his hair, glancing away before quickly looking back at him. He didn't want to put Tom off just by acting nervous, but the shuffling has become almost second nature to him at this point. It was as though he was always stepping on glass around his friends now, hesitating and evaluating each step forward for possible damage.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked, suppressing a wince at how needy it made him sound.

Tom didn't answer right away, but his frosty exterior predictably melted away when he noticed Alex's twitchiness.

"Alex…" he started, retracing his steps back to the door. "How could I be mad at you, mate?"

Alex knew at once that everything he'd told Tom in the car wasn't all he knew. The argument with Fox returned to the forefront of his mind: "_Have you been talking to Tom?" "No, but I have."_

"What's Wolf told you?" he said. It hadn't been his intention to come off as defensive as he did.

Tom shrank a little, terrible as ever when it came to lying. "Not much. Do you want me to come in for tea that badly? What's this really about, Alex?"

"Hey, that's my question," Alex returned. "If you're not mad then what is it? I can tell when I'm not in your good books."

"That's not true."

"Tom…"

"Alex, really, now's not the time, alright?" He looked so earnest, so serious, persuading him with that look to stop prying. Alex decided at his insistence to leave it alone for now, if only because Tom had said _not now_ and implied there would be a _later_ in which he might demand answers.

"… Okay. See you around, Tom."

As Tom walked back towards the curb, Alex noticed something about the pair of plastic bags hanging from his hands. He'd assumed at first that Tom was just using them to carry Alex's papers, but now he was able to make out the logo of a carton of strawberries pressing against the inside of the thin plastic. Since when did Tom do his family's grocery shopping?

Alex moved back into the house, contemplating the strawberries. Perhaps Tom had picked them up for his girlfriend. Was he still seeing Mia? Alex hadn't thought to ask. It could have been a date Tom was rushing off to, not wanting to be delayed by an argument with Alex. That would make sense.

He paused in the middle of the kitchen, looking around. Wolf had gone in for training with the rest of the unit for an upcoming mission. He'd already forgotten the date Wolf had passed onto him.

Stepping out into the backyard, Alex pulled his gold cigarette case out of from his back pocket and lit up a cigarette. He stood leaning against the back of the French doors tapping his right foot and observing the beat-up targets Wolf had pinned to the fence of his yard. It felt like forever since he'd last practiced shooting with him, since he'd last kicked a ball around the grassy space with Tom and talked about girls. Lovesick, Tom had called him. Now he was plain sick of love, sick with what it had done to his friends throughout this whole ordeal.

The more he thought about the state of things between Tom and him, the closer he came to falling into the taboo thought process of Sabina and Jack. He didn't want to imagine how they'd begin treating him once they found it what he'd forced them through. Here he was standing on the back porch, casually smoking a cigarette, while Jack was probably still running through his death scene in the hospital at night, guilty with what she had and hadn't done to stop the event from happening.

And the worst part was he _knew_ what it was like, being left in the wake of a loved one's death, just as well as he knew the wonderful feeling of finding out that he wasn't really alone. Alex had been elated to find out that Ash was alive and the possibility for him to have a father still lived on – until that had gone straight to hell like everything else. But that wasn't the point. The fact that his family was dead wasn't the point, and the fact that his foster family thought _he_ was dead wasn't the point, either. He took a hard drag of the cigarette between his fingers, feeling the hot smoke travel down his throat. It was burning and suffocating and horrible, and it was a tiny punishment, hardly worth much, but he relished in it anyway. Nobody had to know.

"_Better be careful not to leave any evidence lying about, Alex…"_

Alex tensed up instantly, keeping his gaze firmly planted on the red and white targets at the other end of the yard. He exhaled and watched a large cloud of smoke rise up into the air, joining the cloudy backdrop seamlessly.

"Thanks for the tip."

Other Alex was standing just to his left, leaning against the doors in a perfect replica of Alex's position even down to the way he was holding his cigarette. Parking it between his lips, Other Alex leaned forward and pointed at a small cigarette butt in the grass.

"_That yours?"_

"Couldn't be. I don't just drop them in the backyard."

"_Maybe you should pick it up, just to be safe. It's gonna get awkward if he starts asking questions. You wanna start lying to him again? I thought you were past all that…"_

He was talking, of course, about Wolf. Alex sighed, pushing off from the wall and nabbing the tiny piece of trash. He treated his doppelganger to an expectant look, holding it up and demanding, "We good now? Go away."

Other Alex grinned at him, playing with his own cigarette by twirling it about different fingers. "_You missed one."_

Alex looked down again. The grass was now littered with cigarette butts, all the same brand as the ones locked away in his case. Other Alex had his own version of that too, which he now pulled out and opened sideways, causing all the cigarettes to tumble down onto the deck and roll away in different directions.

"_Oops."_

"I sure have poor taste in imaginary friends," Alex commented, taking a moment to breathe and remind himself that none of it was real.

Other Alex had freed both his hands, so he took the opportunity to surge forward and advance upon Alex, stopping just centimeters away from his face. He glanced down, his hand making contact with Alex's elbow and beginning to trace its way up toward his shoulder. Alex shivered, jerking back and slapping his own hand over the skin in order to ward off the impending goose bumps. Other Alex merely shifted in closer, touching him again.

"Stop," Alex ordered, stepping back again, but Other Alex was relentless in his ministrations, imposing on him an impossible kind of physical contact; forcefully pushing his existence onto Alex. Alex grabbed his wrist and attempted to twist it around against his back but it was as though Other Alex already knew what he was going to do, and strategically managed to duck under the motion and dance out of reach.

Alex glared at him. "What are you trying to do?"

Other Alex smiled and moved in close once again, slinging an arm around his neck and burying his fingers in Alex's hair. He could feel his twin's fingernails digging against his scalp and it was all much too real for his liking. Such sensations shouldn't have been possible from a hallucination, a figment of his mind's eye with no present matter in the real world, and with each touch Other Alex seemed to demonstrate his defiance of this rule and the power he had over Alex.

Fear began creeping into his body like a slow flood from hidden crevices. He had no defenses until he became aware of _that _again. There was a nagging feeling at the back of his head, a warm hum that felt something like safety, and that if he should just _reach toward it_ he would once again gain control, like the promise of a waiting army ready to defend him.

Alex shook his head, disorientated, and pulled away from the mirror-Alex. His reflection had gone back to his initial sporadic irritating touching, but now it was almost as though he was trying to comfort him, laying a hand between his shoulder blades and pressing up against him.

"_Stop it,_" Alex ordered, stumbling back and turning to return to the house. He was having trouble seeing and a loose stone soon found its way beneath his foot, throwing him to his knees and sending shooting pain up both his legs. His knees were already heavily bruised from the amount of falling he'd done in combination with the beatings he'd taken, and the feeling was so acute that he actually cried out; a rare reaction to pain for Alex.

Other Alex crouched down next to him. Exhaling slowly though his nose, Alex squeezed his eyes shut and willed the nauseous feeling brewing in his stomach away.

"_That hurt, huh? Do you consider __**pain**__ 'real'?"_ Other Alex asked.

Alex didn't respond. Instead he focused on picking himself up without leaving Other Alex too many more opportunities to hurt him.

"_Is it __**easier**__ to believe I'm not 'real'? By what standards do you arrive at that conclusion? Are you really so naïve, kiddo, or are you just trying to fool yourself? We both know that never works…"_

Other Alex followed him through the French doors and into the kitchen where Alex paused hunched over the sink to collect himself and fill up a glass of water.

"I don't get it," Alex muttered. "If I've been through such a _traumatic event_ then shouldn't my own psyche be trying to help me? Why would my subconscious send _you?"_

"_Are you asking __**me?**__"_ Other Alex joked. Alex scowled.

"_I think you know by now that you've had enough __**help.**__ You're honestly so incredibly needy. Can't you do a single thing on your own or do you need everyone to hold your hand and sing you lullabies?"_

"Fuck. Off."

"_I am you. I am your thoughts. What's imaginary about that?"_

_Ring, ring…_

"Oh thank _god…"_

He snatched up the phone as though it were his closest lifeline, pressing his head into the speaker. "Hello?"

There was a pause on the other line, and faint static could be made out in the background of the call. Alex's eyebrows knit together as he pressed, "Who's this?"

"_Hi Alex."_

Alex's stomach dropped, and he glanced up to spot Other Alex across the room holding an identical phone. He had his feet crossed at the ankles and his back to the pantry door, and he was waggling his fingers at Alex with his free hand in mock greeting. Alex's hand tightened around the phone before abruptly hanging up.

He made a beeline for his medication, which was still sitting innocently in the middle of the coffee table. Other Alex scurried along next to him, throwing his foot out in attempts to trip him and grabbing at his clothes. Alex ignored him.

"_Morphine can't deafen your thoughts, kiddo; it can only numb your pain."_

"Leave me alone." Alex didn't look at him as he screwed off the top of the bottle.

Other Alex chuckled. The sound was quiet and distorted near the end. Alex dropped onto the couch and collapsed sideways, eyes half-shut with drowsiness.

"_Close your eyes now, Alex, and let it all…" _

_Fade away…_

0o0o0o

* * *

"Guys, I don't know if I should go," Fox was stressing. "I've bad news."

"This had better be good," said Wolf, crossing his arms.

"It's not good!" snapped Fox, leaning against the van. K-unit was gathered outside Fox and Snake's building in preparation of a trip to Brecon Beacons as per the commander's request, but Fox was holding up the line and Wolf was impatient to get the trip over with and return home. "A friend of mine agreed to take Snortus while we were in Carlisle and she's just called to tell me he's got worms."

Wolf blinked. "So?"

"Well, she wants me to pick him up and we can't take him back to the house like that, he'll end up dragging himself across the carpet five hundred times! My sister's dog did that once. The stains did _not_ come out."

"You _would_ be worried about your damn carpet, Fox," Snake snapped.

"It's an authentic Persian rug!" Fox defended in outrage. "Anyway, couldn't we stop by and drop him off at the vet on the way?"

"No way, we'll definitely be late if we do that. For fuck's sake, just tell her to hold onto him until we get back, Fox!"

"Look, the only reason I have this dog in the first place is because of _you,"_ growled Fox, jabbing his pointing finger into Wolf's chest boldly. Wolf's face darkened.

"Fucking do that again, Fox. I dare you."

Tensions were still high between the two soldiers after things had taken on a sour note at Wolf's house, and Fox had yet to forgive Alex for neglecting the needs of the women, and neither man was used to treading lightly along subjects of such open disagreement. Something concerning Alex's wellbeing was different from the usual petty spat, so the two were doing their best to avoid the subject altogether. Unfortunately, it was transferring itself into the petty spat's instead.

"How about we give you worms and see if you want to wait 'till we're back from this trip to get them treated?"

"Do you really think the commander is going to accept that as an excuse? We all have to go! We can't just show up as half a unit!"

"You guys, stop," Eagle chimed in, rubbing his forehead. "You're making my head hurt."

They paused in their bickering, and at Snake's pointed look turned away from the argument in consideration of Eagle's health. Fox reluctantly climbed into the van, muttering all the while.

The "training" K-unit had been brought in for ended up being less training and more briefing than anything else. As it turned out, the commander had decided that after K-unit's commendable performance in Carlisle, additional retraining was not necessary.

Wolf, for one, was not pleased. "We drove three and a half hours for _this?_ This could have been done over the phone."

"C'mon mate, you know that's not how it's done."

"Yeah, but…" Wolf trailed off, glancing around at the barracks of Brecon Beacons. There were less prospective soldiers than he could remember training alongside during his period there, but those that _were_ present had focused all their attention onto K-unit as they trekked across the muddy expanse. Fox stepped into a particularly gooey puddle and accidentally ended up pulling his foot out of his shoe, leaving the boot lodged there. He grabbed at Eagle's shoulder to steady himself, unknowingly causing Eagle a minor heart attack in the process.

"Jesus," Fox breathed, wrenching his boot out from the mud and stuffing it back onto his foot, "I forgot what hell the rain turned this place into. You'd think it was getting ready to snow!"

"Could be," Wolf said, glancing over at a pale-faced Eagle. "Alright there Eagle?"

"Me? I'm good," Eagle replied, catching up from his place trailing two or three feet behind the group. "Sorry, I was thinking."

"About?"

Eagle scrambled for an explanation. "Cub," he decided upon at last. "Wouldn't it be something if we actually were a five-man unit?"

"And _Cub_ was our fifth man? He's in _school."_

"So? That's not all he's in."

"I hope it was okay, leaving him alone at the house so suddenly the way we did…" Snake trailed off, nibbling at his thumbnail.

"He won't run." Wolf didn't even glance at the man while he was giving the testament; it was spoken as inarguable truth, made official with Wolf's sudden unwavering faith in Alex. After their argument the other night he seemed reluctant to continue tiptoeing around Alex's fractured psyche. He had decided such methods were a lot more likely to drive the teen away rather than allow him to resume his old habits like they were all hoping he would.

K-unit was still fuzzy on what exactly Alex had endured during his week in captivity – only Wolf could claim to have somewhat of an accurate grasp on the events that had transpired as he was the sole viewer of the video footage captured by Alex's kidnappers. He also had no intention of changing this situation – Wolf kept Finnegan's laptop locked up in his closet, hidden from all other eyes as unmentioned confiscated evidence.

Behind Wolf, Eagle still seemed trouble. "I don't understand why your biggest fear is whether or not he'll run, Wolf. There are bigger things at stake."

"Such as?"

Eagle narrowed his eyes, glaring at the man's back. "Such as how being left alone might make him feel."

"Give it a rest! You guys are treating him like a toddler. Just because he took a beating doesn't mean he's going to crumble to pieces if we decide to take one little day trip, alright? You're blowing this out of proportion, Eagle."

The look Eagle sent Fox in response to that may have been his least-friendly of the night. Sensing this, Fox quickly changed the subject.

"Has anyone else noticed all these blokes staring at us?" Fox muttered, glancing around. One solider in particular seemed to be squinting at them for a better look, scrutinizing the group as though their path was some kind of spectacle. "Oi, you there! Take a picture, it'll last longer!"

"Fox, don't encourage them," Snake admonished. "Maybe they've heard something about us?"

"Like our fraternization with MI6? I sure hope not."

"J-unit could have told them something. They'd be back by now, wouldn't they?"

"K-unit! Eagle! Hey!" a familiar, high-pitched voice hit them from across the barracks.

"Speak of the devil…" Wolf muttered, taking a deep breath to mentally prepare himself.

Running towards them in what had to be a custom-sized military uniform was none other than Tiger of J-unit. With his tiny stature and girlish good looks, he looked almost like he was drowning in the dark fabric. Hawk trailed a few feet behind him; he didn't look nearly as visibly excited to see them as Tiger did. Nevertheless, he nodded at the group and even sent Wolf a lax salute.

"K-unit," he greeted in his low rumble. Eagle instantly stepped forward to brush off Hawk's uniform and fuss over the man, meeting his aquamarine gaze with his own mossy green eyes and batting his eyelashes flirtatiously.

"Hawk! If it isn't my handsome J-unit counterpart!"

Tiger was staring at the two of them with his mouth hanging wide open while Hawk attempted to drift out of Eagle's grasp. Wolf just rolled his eyes.

"Oh, let him be, Eagle…"

"I'm not doing anything to him!" Eagle objected, clinging to Hawk. Hawk politely pried Eagle's hands away from his collar.

"How's Lynx?" Snake asked. Tiger, who'd turned red watching Eagle fawn over Hawk, snapped to attention and shot them a wide smile at the mention of his unit leader.

"His condition has improved a lot and he's pretty much recovered now, actually. Thanks for asking." The tone in which he spoke of Lynx was fond, and even if Wolf would never admit to liking the younger unit, a part of him was glad to see the family-mentality thriving among them – it made for far more human soldiers.

"So are you guys preparing for your next send-off then?"

"Not quite yet," replied Tiger. "It's only been a week since Lynx sustained that injury and we're taking it easy for now… I mean, as easy as you _can_ take it living in Brecon Beacons. If anything it's Lynx who's taking it easy and us who are being trained twice as hard in the wake of it."

"You weren't in trouble when you got back, were you?" Wolf asked, frowning. Tiger shook his head adamantly.

"Oh, no! Quite the opposite, actually. The mission itself was really unusual. You know how the SAS and MI6 get along; they're just two completely different worlds, it's pretty rare to see any combined operations between the two of them actually work out okay. When we got back all the other new units were asking us questions and bugging us for info on you guys…"

"Oh god, it's just as I feared… they think we're all buddy-buddy with MI6 now. Ew, ugh, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth just saying it…"

Tiger seemed taken aback. "Well, but – what about Alex Rider? I mean… aren't you?"

"No," all four men said at once. Hawk glanced over at Fox.

"Didn't you say you were former SO?"

"Don't remind me."

"So… you all _hate_ MI6?" Tiger asked slowly, glancing between them.

"Yes," K-unit collectively deadpanned.

"For a bunch of MI6 haters, you lot sure spend a lot of time around them…" Shark made his entrance from behind K-unit, parting the group through the middle to join his unit. He was screwing off the top of a water bottle as he approached and now threw it back, gulping half of it down before handing it off to Tiger.

"When we met Cub we didn't think he was SAS or MI6," Wolf countered, eyeing the crass man with distaste. "Don't presume to know so much about us after tagging along for one mission."

Shark laughed, spitting up a bit of water in the process. Tiger handed him a handkerchief, but he ignored the shorter man and proceeded to wipe it away with the back of his sleeve, covering his mouth to hide his mirth.

"Sorry, sorry, you're right, I _don't_ know everything about you – but are you honestly still trying to deny your obvious affiliations with Intelligence? I mean you were shagging that American spy, weren't you Wolf?"

All eyes turned to Wolf, who handled the sudden attention quite diplomatically. "No, I wasn't."

"Bullshit," Shark returned.

"Go ahead and think what you like. We had a couple casual encounters; it was never anything more – _not_ that I have any obligation to explain myself to _you._"

Fox stepped in before things between the two heated up too quickly. "What's the big deal, anyway? She was on our side and she didn't betray us halfway through or anything like that. And holy _crap_ was she ever hot."

"She was so hot," Eagle moaned in agreement. Wolf nodded helplessly.

"Okay – kissing spies is one thing; having one live under your roof is a whole other," Shark bit back. Tiger tugged worriedly at his sleeve.

"Stop picking fights," he mumbled under his breath, glancing around K-unit in apprehension. His baby blue depths lingered a little longer on Wolf. It was not difficult to discern that he was terrified of the man.

"Don't bring Cub into this. You _definitely_ don't know enough about _that_ to have an opinion."

Shark shrugged. "Fine, I won't. But it's gonna be tough to shake your image at this point… Now if you'll kindly excuse us, _K-unit,_ we have training to do."

Shark had to drag a fretting Tiger away from the group and Hawk started to follow before pausing by Wolf's side. Peering at him out of the corner of his eye, he opened his mouth and tipped his head, hesitant and contemplative. Wolf wrinkled his nose at the odd behaviour.

"What?" he prompted loudly, startling Hawk out of his unfocused staring. Hawk cleared his throat and started to walk away.

He didn't get far. Hawk's gaze dropped to fall upon the hand wrapped tightly around his forearm. Wolf's face was hard, attention centered on him closely.

"What?" he asked again more forcefully, and the suspicion in his voice was difficult to miss. K-unit lingered around the pair curiously, unopposed to their leader's pushiness. Hawk sighed at the inevitability of it all.

"He's doing alright? The boy – Cub?"

Wolf narrowed his eyes, releasing Hawk's arm. Hawk resisted the temptation to reach up and rub some circulation into the appendage – that man had one hell of a grip.

"The hell do you care?" he asked gruffly. Hawk glanced away.

"I'm only asking. He's just a kid."

"No he's not just a kid. Get over yourself."

"Wolf," Snake admonished before turning to Hawk. "He's doing a lot better."

"There haven't been any… incidents?"

"What kind of incidents?" Wolf demanded without a second's pause.

"Well he's – I mean his mind's alright? He's recovering? I was worried…"

"Why were _you_ worried?" Wolf muttered, slightly quieter beneath Snake's glare. He couldn't help the hostility; in his books people who didn't know Alex didn't care about him, and if they seemed to, it was usually because they wanted something from him. Wolf was no longer going to accept the compassion excuse.

"I did meet him, even if it was brief. But excuse me if I am imposing my concern upon you," Hawk responded politely, backing off. He caught one final wink from Eagle before rolling his eyes and disappearing after his teammates. Wolf scratched the back of his head, ruffling his hair up, and Snake had the good taste to wait until they were out of sight before treating him to a slap on the shoulder.

"You didn't have to be so aggressive."

"He was overly curious about business that doesn't concern him. Serves him right."

Snake sent him a flat look that conveyed his views on that quite clearly. Even Fox was shaking his head. "You need to relax, Wolf. It's normal that Hawk asked how Cub was doing and he was being downright civil about it, too. Stop being a jerk."

Eagle swooned in the background. "I forgot how _dreamy_ he is."

"Sod off Eagle. What would Sadie say?"

"I imagine she'd say the same thing. He looks like a bloody supermodel!"

0o0o0o

* * *

The restaurant Alex stepped into was, above everything else, _spacious._

The ceilings were tall and all the tables were at least ten feet apart. Modern chandeliers (which looked more like glowing blocks strung up on coils of chicken wire) dotted the ceiling as the main source of lighting, and in addition each and every table had a glass lantern with a tea light tucked sugly inside. Lavender had also been placed alongside these lanterns in tall, narrow vases, juxtaposing against the metallic-dark paint on the walls. Decorating these walls was not art, per say, but a whole lot of windows and, strangest of all, empty frames. Extravagant, golden frames had been placed far above everyone's heads on the walls with absolutely nothing to present inside of them.

His first thought was how incredibly brutal it must be to work there. Not only did the employees probably spend most of their shifts crossing the massive expanse that was the dining space, but the expectations of employees from the managers of posh spots like these were almost exclusively cruel and unrealistic.

True to Alex's musings, an angry looking man could be seen storming out of the kitchen door, brushing off his suit. A second later and the same door cracked open to reveal the tear-stained face of…

Alex gawked.

Rubbing her cheeks, the young girl called a final soft apology after the assumed manager, who whipped around and pointed at her rather rudely before turning back and continuing across the restaurant without a word. She leaned against the doorframe and pulled at her little black dress, raising her chin to dab at the running mascara beneath her eyes. When she'd lowered it again, she caught Alex staring at her.

The girl gawked.

"Alex, my boy…"

Alex spun around to pinpoint the source of the greeting behind him. Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones had, as expected, one of the best tables in the house. They'd secured themselves a table right in the corner the establishment and a view overlooking the entire city, which glowed with artificial light beneath the cloudy starless sky.

"Hi," Alex muttered, throwing one last glance around. Everybody seemed to be dressed in their tightest, blackest attire, while Alex was still wearing his gym shirt: a gray T that advertised some establishment rumoured "the best fish and chips on the Baltic coast". He made sure not to let any of his discomfort show among the fat cats and sharks that largely occupied the dining room.

"Please, take a seat."

As per requested, Alex pulled out a chair and sat facing MI6's esteemed management team. Alan Blunt looked like he hadn't slept in a week. Mrs. Jones didn't look much better.

"What happened to you two?" Alex asked rather rudely. Mrs. Jones closed her eyes and took a sip of her glass of champagne, taking zero offense from the question.

"It has been a busy week," she responded quietly. "How are you doing this evening, Alex?"

He shifted his gaze back and forth between them, trying to discern in advance what this meeting could possibly be about. He fostered a painful certainty that they'd bring up therapy again, but he was holding onto hope that they wouldn't ask about Jack and Sabina.

"I've been better," he admitted to spare them the headache of hearing him say the words "Fine, thanks". In truth, Alex had woken up twenty minutes before his hot date with the MI6 duo from a drug-induced sleep and had been forced to book it to the tube to avoid heavy traffic and make it to the dinner in time. He was still late, and he may or may not have torn a stitch, but at least they hadn't ordered more than drinks and an appetizer.

"I hope you don't mind," Blunt hedged, his eyes trailing down to the plate of escargot sitting between him and his counterpart. "Tulip and I were tied up at lunch, so we were feeling a bit peckish."

"We saved you a snail," Mrs. Jones added, pointing to the final morsel.

Alex perked up immediately. "Oh, thanks!"

He reached across to snatch up the oily shell, lifting his chin and loudly slurping back the snack. Blunt and Jones gave twin winces while a nearby diner caught the action and started choking on an artichoke. His younger companion – presumably his son – leaped up to pound on the man's back, eventually dislodging the bite and sending it flying. It landed in his wine glass with an echoing "plop".

Mrs. Jones's pursed lips formed a resigned grimace. "Alex…"

"Sorry," he mouthed the word across at them, turning around in his seat to send the unfortunate old man a half-apologetic wave. Sooner than Blunt might have liked he was facing them again, smiling serenely. "So, to what do I owe the honour? Other than my questionable mental health, of course."

"About that…" Blunt cleared his throat. "We have arranged for you to–"

"You mean you are asking me if I'd _like to–"_

"No, Alex," Mrs. Jones cut in flatly. "We're not asking."

"Why, Mrs. Jones! That's not like you at all."

"Look," she started, glancing down and lowering her voice so it was just loud enough to be audible and just quiet enough for him to have to settle down to catch her words. "I know you don't like it. I remember Dr. Schnur just as well as you do."

"I doubt that. His weird moustache was forever burned into my retinas."

"He wasn't what we'd call a model employee, it's true. And he did in fact have a weird moustache. But you can't shrug off an entire science because of a bad experience with an indecent shrink. You have been through a lot."

For once, Alex chose to stay silent and let the woman talk. Over the course of their conversation he was slowly becoming fascinated by her manner of speaking. Something was different about this request over the many she – and Blunt – had made of him over the past… something crept into her voice that Mrs. Jones wasn't quite able to completely hide. Even if their pushiness concerning therapy was far past the point of annoying, there was a childish part of him that wanted to glow from the kind of genuine concern for his well-being they'd started to express since he'd come back from Carlisle. (And even a little sooner than that, if he was being completely honest with himself.)

Mrs. Jones paused, keeping her eyes firmly away from his face and instead focusing on rearranging the napkin she had spread out over her lap. "My hope is that we have found someone more suitable for you. Certainly whoever we send you to is more suitable than no one."

"That's not totally true," said Alex. "There were a few times during sessions with Schnur where I seriously considered jamming his ballpoint pen straight through my own throat."

"Alex, _please."_ She flattened the napkin out over her thighs, glancing up at him and raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, no," Alex muttered, dropping his elbows onto the table and rubbing his face tiredly. "Not again with the pleases... Not now that I know you _actually_ care."

A small double-blink – one of Mrs. Jones only tells of a double-take – seemed to convey that she hadn't realized he'd discovered as much. "We've always cared."

"Ha!"

Mrs. Jones resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. "Well, as long as I'm on your good side…"

He instantly sobered. "Where on earth did you get that idea?"

"… I think you should speak with Mrs. Starbright."

If there was any good humour leftover in the conversation from Alex's snappy remarks, it disappeared at that moment. Even Mrs. Jones knew that Alex was repressing a lot, but the dramatic changes in character were a marked sign that he was anything but balanced. Her friend the moment earlier, Alex's eyes had turned completely cold. It was as though she'd stumbled directly across the margins of the caution tape Alex had tied around the subject.

"_Yeah kiddo, talk to her! Unless you're afraid she might notice something… off about you?"_

"I don't see why that has anything to do with you," he replied, voice low and expressionless. Blunt seemed to be finding great pleasure in examining the not-art on the walls.

"I don't see why you're forcing her, of all people, to suffer."

She was trying to make an impression. If that impression inspired pointed fury, so be it.

"Don't go there." It was Alex's final warning. "You're my boss. That's personal."

"Fine," she conceded, brushing a strand of dark hair out of her face and raising her chin mulishly. Alex was well aware that no amount of glaring and unspoken threats was going to get her to shut up before he started to feel something.

"Please."

"No, I said it's fine. I won't tell you what to do. I suppose maybe a part of me just misses her browbeating. I'm not sure she'd be allowing this dinner to be taking place at all if she knew you weren't dead."

"Tulip. That's enough." Both parties were surprised to hear Blunt attempt to take control the imminent argument before it broke out. Mrs. Jones closed her eyes and took a quiet sip of champagne. Alex, on the other hand, appeared visually shaken. His hands uncurled from where they'd wrapped around the arms of his chair, bringing them back into Mrs. Jones's sight. Upon spotting the still-wrapped appendages, she calmly placed her glass back down on the table and inquired politely,

"How are your hands healing?"

A look of nauseous revelation came over Alex's face once he remembered that the video sent to MI6 was the one of the day Flint took a knife to his palms. Swallowing back his queasiness at the mention of his least favourite injury, he mumbled,

"They scarred."

"I see. Have you consulted the doctor about bringing down the scarring? There might be something–"

"The cuts were too deep," Alex cut in bluntly. "He told me there was nothing he could do. Then he tried to tell me they were cool."

Even Blunt seemed a little moved by that one. "Oh, dear..."

"What, you don't agree?"

A shadow fell over them before either Blunt or Jones could reply, saving the older pair from the burden of continuing along the awkward topic and simultaneously revealing the lean form of the waitress Alex had spotted earlier. Despite the fact that Alex was dressed in gym clothes and Blunt and Jones looked dressed to impress – quite obviously standing out as the ones who would be dropping the big bucks on her tip – the waitress only had eyes for Alex, with occasional brief glances in their direction.

"Hello," she started nervously. "How are you all doing tonight? Good to see your third party arrived safely…. Could I get you something to drink, Alex?"

"You know one another?" Mrs. Jones instantly jumped on the connection. Alex reluctantly smiled.

"We've met once or twice," he revealed, peering up at her painfully curious blue eyes. His presence in the restaurant had caught her even more off-guard than hers had caught him. While it was mildly surprising for Alex to see her working anywhere other than Green Eggs, it was also a treat – her tight black dress was a whole lot more flattering than the baggy green T she'd been forced to wear to her former job. On her end, however, Brooke was still dealing with the shock of reencountering her one night stand who had supposedly died, come back to life, and then completely dropped off the map – according to the rumours, anyway.

Furthermore, to be seen after such a tense period in hiding with two mysterious strangers at one of the most expensive and luxurious restaurants in Chelsea undoubtedly raised even more questions. That is, if Brooke started asking them.

"I'll just take a glass of water, thanks," Alex answered her earlier question, startling her out of daze. She nodded and then Blunt broke in with his order, followed by Mrs. Jones. Alex was the last to close his menu, putting in a request for little more than a second appetizer.

"No entrée?" Mrs. Jones asked, while Alex shifted in discomfort. He didn't have anything against Brooke, but it was just his luck to run into someone he knew by pure chance at the last place he'd expect to recognize anyone.

Warm fingers brushed overtop of his shoulders, massaging the muscles. Alex froze, eyes glancing quickly up and then back down to the table again. _He_ wasn't there, but Alex could still feel him hovering about, straightening out the wrinkles on the front of his shirt; it felt almost how he imagined being looked after by a ghost might.

"_Would you like a carrot, Alex?"_ his own voice sliced through his thoughts in a whisper, dark and full of mirth.

"I'm not very hungry," he responded. She didn't pry any further into his eating habits, something he was eternally grateful for, and even went on in the spirit of great convenience to shift the subject away from his well-being and onto something less over-discussed.

"Oh," Alan Blunt said, lifting his napkin to dab at the champagne on his lips, "I just remembered something interesting. Alex, you do remember Agent Sanders?"

"Of course." At one point Alex had even been ready to believe he had a chance at befriending the newer spy, until he unexpectedly ended up knocking Sanders out via a knee to the face. Alex lowered his chin and took a tiny sip of water, still embarrassed by the memory. In his defense, he'd had quite a rough night.

"Well, he's dead."

Alex swallowed the water with a loud gulp, barely managing not to choke on the mouthful. Blunt said everything with the same intonation one might use to recite the weather, and Alex would bet money that a part of him did it just to see reactions such as Alex's in response to his monotone revelations. Deep down behind that emotionless façade sat a wisecracking old man, cackling at his own inner monologue and inside jokes – Alex was sure of it.

"Dead?" Alex repeated, staring at the man. "What, already? But he was just alive like, a few days ago!"

"That is how it usually happens, yes," Blunt responded, almost mournfully.

"Wait a minute, this isn't related to the frying pan incident at all, is it…"

"Frying pan incident?" Mrs. Jones repeated in bafflement.

"We have yet to determine who killed him or why," said Blunt, "but unless you put a bullet in the man's head, I highly doubt you are the one that's responsible."

Behind them, the delicate piano of a famous Beethoven piece acted as the conversation's soundtrack. In the silence following the proclamation, Alex caught the quiet words of the couple dining just a couple tables down. They were talking about the weather.

"_Well, kiddo? Any recent blackouts you think they should know about?"_

"What about Kobayashi?" Alex finally spoke again.

"He's MIA," Blunt told him, and any further details Alex might have pried out of them was interrupted by a loud,

"Dinner is served!"

A small plate of caprese salad appeared in front of Alex. Brooke was back, this time juggling three plates and a glass of water. He had to admit – the girl was good.

Blunt and Jones kept it light after that – their version of light, that was, which amounted mostly to "spy gossip" – something that sounded a lot cooler than it actually was. In reality, spy gossip was pretty much exactly like real gossip: apparently Smithers had become the talk of the office, so to speak, after he'd been spotted with a strange and mysterious woman. This news had quickly been replaced by something even more ground breaking: someone had finally leaked word of Blunt's infamous kitten, Axel.

"You have a kitten called _Axel? _That is so not a kitten name!"

"I didn't name him."

"He's adopted. I saw him at the shelter and gave him to Alan as a Christmas gift," Mrs. Jones explained.

"What on earth possessed you to give a kitten to _Alan Blunt, _of all people?" Alex demanded without waiting for an answer. He turned back to Blunt. "Do you even remember to feed it at night?"

"_Him,"_ Blunt corrected. "Yes."

"I'm surprised you kept it… you're not trying to exploit it into spying, are you? Make it tag along on some mission as part of a cover or something?"

"He's a housecat, he doesn't go outside. There are raccoons."

Alex started laughing. "Raccoons! So it's not safe?"

"Of course not. Stop laughing." Alex did not comply.

"I'm still not sure if I think this is just hilarious or sad_,"_ he eventually calmed down enough to comment. "I mean it took you _years_ to give a damn about whether or not I returned from missions with all four limbs attached, and here you are worrying about raccoons going after a kitten."

"A little gold kitten," Mrs. Jones added as though this cleared any misunderstanding up, "with golden eyes. He's very cute."

"He is cute," Blunt agreed.

It took until halfway through dessert for the three to return to serious conversation, and by then Mrs. Jones had recovered enough of Alex's good graces after bringing up Jack to revisit the topic of Alex's state of health.

She reached forward and tapped her spoon on the candied caramel layer of her crème brûlée. _Clink, clink, clink_.

"So, if therapy is out," she started, "how do you plan on improving your situation?"

_Clink, clink._ Alex watched as a few cracks appeared atop the glassy surface. Mrs. Jones's eyes travelled up from the end of the spoon over to Alex's hands, which were slipping down from off the table and into his lap. He was trying to stay still, but some point earlier he'd begun to tremble. It became difficult to hide once they turned into full-blown tremors.

He took a deep breath. "Here's where I think the disconnect is with us… You lot think I'm crazy because I was held in captivity by a group of psychos, right, but you're forgetting the entire other half of the story: they spent most of their time spoon-feeding me some mutant drug. Did you just kind of forget about that? The _actual_ reason I've been out of sorts since I came back?"

Mrs. Jones and Blunt exchanged looks. "Alex… about that."

Blunt cleared his throat. "We don't have anything to work with… That drug was as unique a specimen as you can get, and it's gone. The best we could do is get a blood sample from you, but even now… It's been days, and it's hard to say if the traces would really be able to provide anything for us to..."

He trailed off when he noticed Alex's wide eyes.

"Honestly, Alex, this is why we were hoping to get through to you about therapy. The truth is, we don't think the drug is entirely responsible for the issues you've been experiencing… You need to come to terms with that…" Scratch that, almost every word that escaped Blunt trailed off one way or another. His voice had its own inherent dying quality to it, accompanied rather fittingly by a pursing of his weathered lips as he observed Alex with the same expression he might use to evaluate a dirty dish towel. "Do you understand?"

"So you're saying…" Alex attempted to wrap his head around Blunt's suggestion, "I need to come to terms with the fact that it's my problem… and you can't give me any sort of medication for it."

Blunt looked helplessly at Mrs. Jones, who was silently leaving it up to Blunt to carry on the conversation. Blunt grimaced.

"Well if you're so sure you don't need outside help from someone trained and paid to deal with your kind of unique situation then, why yes, I suppose that is what I'm saying… You can feel as angry at the world – at the people who did this to you, or Scorpia, or Tulip and I as you'd like, and for whoever long you'd like, but it won't solve anything for you. I think you know that already."

The bastard was making a valid point, and dammit, Alex kind of wished he wasn't. While his furious thoughts finally took a moment to settle into feasible patterns like sand in the tide, one question continued to force itself to the surface, even while Alex worked tirelessly to keep it from making its way to the edges of his lips. He didn't want to ask it. He wanted to know – knew he'd find out eventually – but asking it was going to warrant the exact answer he didn't want to hear right then.

He did it anyway.

"How do you this isn't just–" he struggled for the proper words, "… my limit?"

Surprisingly, the question was blurted out with very little emotion attached; perhaps a side effect from too much time conversing with the two MI6 authorities. An uncomfortable silence permeated the atmosphere of table, and Alex felt the hands on his shoulders squeeze before departing from the surface of his skin, leaving him feeling cold where the contact had once been.

Blunt didn't bother to answer, but Mrs. Jones glanced back to the waitress fast approaching a few tables back. She faced Alex again, responding in a quiet, curt tone just before Brooke came into hearing range,

"You don't have a limit, Alex."

Brooke's bright smile shattered the conversation, returning them all from their emotional mind games back to their surroundings: the classical music and ground breaking art on the walls working to create the chic space that had somehow decided it was compensation for the incredibly overpriced meals it offered.

Brooke did not manage to get a word in.

"Cheque please."

0o0o0o

* * *

The night was dark and foggy, making for a gloomy walk home through a misty, streetlight-guided tour that might have given Alex the creeps if he wasn't too distracted with the incessant chatter in his ear.

"_They sure pretend to know a lot about you. They're good at that. They're both pretty good liars, aren't they? Wouldn't they have to be? You're a pretty good liar, kiddo, and they've duped you before; they're __**pros.**__"_

He sighed, wrapping his arms around his body to preserve warmth. Gym clothes did little to insulate against the evening cold that had set into the streets while he was still enjoying the perks of indoor heating.

Other Alex was visible and walking quite energetically by his side, appearing more tangible than ever. Alex supposed it had to be the mist – since everything seemed made of clouds, Other Alex may well of been impossible to tell from the original. That was, if anyone other than the original could see or hear him.

"_Could be they're lying about the drug. Wolf seemed pretty sure that Lana got her hands on a sample. Where is she, anyway? Don't you think you should have asked about her when you were sitting down with the 'authorities'?" _Other Alex snickered at the title.

"Well, god forbid you remind me of anything bloody _useful,_" Alex muttered, kicking a nearby stone and sending it half a block forward where collided with a telephone pole quite loudly.

"… Alex! Wait!"

That voice was still fresh in his mind's eye; he knew who was calling him before he'd even turned around. Brooke had followed him out of the restaurant.

Other Alex pivoted from his place in front of Alex so that he was directly behind him just as he'd been at their table, placing his hands on Alex's upper arms. Alex tried to shrug him off, but he had to appear sane in front of Brooke, so he did his best to ignore his evil twin's over enthused touching.

Brooke had taken off in a jog after him, but now she slowed to a stop, and there was an awkward pause as she took a second to gather her thoughts. A hopeless scatterbrain, the poor girl seemed embarrassed before she'd even begun to speak yet.

"Well, firstly, it's good to see you," she huffed, placing her hands on her hips.

"Yeah… You too. You look good," he commented in return, well-practiced in encounters with past acquaintances. "I guess it has been a while. Sorry we had to meet this way, I haven't really gotten around to, uh, reconnecting with everyone…"

"That's right." She stepped out from beneath the streetlight and moved under the cover of the building they were standing outside of – a boarded up movie theatre. The shadows were darker and heavier where she stood and Alex didn't follow her, but she didn't seem bothered by the resulting distance – something he silently respected. "You really dropped off the map there for a while – quite literally, in fact. You should hear what people are saying about you."

"That I came back from life?" he guessed.

"Oh, something like that. That you faked your own death, that you're some kind of miraculous Alex-clone, that you were abducted by aliens and experimented on – the usual."

Other Alex was howling at her words, which rang true with such irony that even Alex was having trouble schooling his expression from one of overt amusement.

"But anyway," she carried on quickly, "I didn't follow you back here to grill you or anything, don't worry. I've heard you're not having the best time of it as of late so…"

"I appreciate that," he admitted. "Although I don't really know how you heard that since I haven't really been back to school yet."

Honestly, sometimes it felt like all his secrecy was for naught - people always seemed to figure things out on their own eventually. He had to wonder how Brooke knew he was alive but somehow Jack and Sabina still hadn't discovered the same. Nevertheless, it was nice having someone not demanding explanations for once.

She was being nice – too nice. Alex could feel himself letting his guard down, feel his body relaxing and his thoughts being pulled away from the self-reflection and perpetual vigilance they'd been so focused on these last few days. It took a lot of concentration portraying an image of himself so different from the way he actually felt, and in the long run it was draining; difficult to upkeep for long periods of time. He found it easier when he could withdraw into solitude for a while to recharge before being forced to repeat the process, and unless he'd had enough time to store energy it got to the point of backbreaking at some points.

"Well, Tom and Mia talk, you see, and Mia and I talk," she admitted sheepishly.

_You mean you gossip,_ he wanted to correct her contemptuously. Then he shook his head. _She's being __**nice,**_he reminded himself, warding off a wave of dizziness. He couldn't shake this moodiness. He couldn't even decide if he _liked_ Brooke in that moment, the confliction was so confusing.

"_She'll probably tell everyone about this, about meeting you like this,"_ the low whine of Other Alex's voice slithered in between his thoughts.

_Stop whispering in my ear! _

"_Who's whispering in your ear?"_

_You!_

"What?"

Alex blinked. "I – you, I mean, you and Mia talk? I didn't even know you guys were friends," he covered the mistake hastily.

"Since that party you threw," she said, recalling the event with a little smile. "Remember that? Hey, by the way, Brett and his family moved to Spain. He didn't ask me to come with him or anything. Not that I would've."

It took Alex a minute to recall who the hell she was talking about, but then it clicked – Brett was the boy she'd been sort of seeing the night they'd slept together. Well, so much for that, he supposed.

"_Do you wonder why she's telling you this? Maybe she wants you."_

_Shut up. For god's sake, shut up._

"_At least someone does. She probably wouldn't mind how screwy you've become. Maybe she's a masochist. Or one of those girls who likes to mend the broken wings of little baby birds like you."_

His inner dialogue was cackling again, and Alex was back to grinding his teeth. The awkwardness returned after Alex failed to reply to her confession within a reasonable amount of time, and she started shifting as though ready to turn and leave. He almost sighed in relief.

"Uhm, anyway. I _did _have a reason for chasing you down the street. I found this on the ground by your table and thought it might have fallen out of your pocket. Is it yours? It didn't belong to either of the two people you were dining with."

She pulled something out from her small brown shoulder bag – it gleamed under the glow of the streetlight, alerting Alex of what it was before he even set eyes on the name engraved on the top.

"That's mine," he said, reaching out to take it from her outstretched palm. It was cold to the touch, as it always was. As soon as his fingers grazed the bevelled surface, her hand snapped shut like a venus fly trap. It was so sudden that his whole body seized and he instinctually pulled away, but still she didn't release him. In fact, she was staring at him quite intensely now.

"'Heidi Ranger'. Who is that? Did you get this from a girl? Is she the reason you started smoking?"

"Let go of me," he ordered, trying to control his impulses. He could throw the entire weight of her body over his shoulder in less than three seconds, even with the broken arm. "I thought you said you weren't demanding any answers."

"I wasn't demanding. I was just asking." Her thumb brushed across the top of his hands, forcing a shiver. If he tried to pull his away from her himself, he was afraid she might get hurt. All he wanted was for her to _let go._

"_Please _let go," said Alex, and this time it sounded much less like a request and more like a plea.

"Look," she continued, ignoring his words. "I'll let go of your hand in a second. I don't know why it's all bandaged up like this, and I won't ask. But I want you to know something."

Her eyes slid own his body and hit the ground, disappearing beneath her dark, mascara-laden lashes. Then they snapped back up again, the saturated green sickly in its abrupt forcefulness. "I'm here for you, Alex. If you need me… if you need anything, really…"

He couldn't take it anymore. Suddenly all he could think about was Sabina Sabina _Sabina_, an onslaught let loose by a torrent of implicating thoughts, sounding like a fire alarm in his head. Brooke wasn't being nice – she was on the _hunt. _He didn't want any part of this – any part of whatever ego-stroking interaction she was having with him at this point. Other Alex was right – she probably _would_ tell people about this. She'd lied about demanding answers. He wondered if she was lying about Brett, too.

Sabina Sabina Sabina, his mind pressed on, unruly and impossible to pause. She had taken occupation of his whole head – Sabina's quiet composure and natural grace, the way she'd never done anything so forceful as this – as taking his hand against his will, refusing to let go even while he begged. Something so simple and seemingly harmless felt as painful as a physical assault, and he didn't know why, and somehow of all things it felt like he was _cheating. _Unable to bear it a second longer he gave up trying to be benevolent and violently tore his hand away from Brooke's, stumbling back a step and forcing his eyes strictly away from hers.

She continued to hover in front of him, still wouldn't leave even though the rejection in the air was practically palpable. Alex wanted to be understanding, to apologize for being unable to return her affections like he'd always done at school when girls impressed their feelings upon him, but her lingering stung, and in that moment he felt so terrible about himself that there wasn't any compassion to be found for this young girl before him.

For all he knew Sabina knew exactly where he was right now, knew all about Carlisle and his escape and the fact that he'd long since made it back to Chelsea alive. It was just as likely that he wasn't fooling her at all – that Sabina was merely respecting his wishes to be left alone.

When it came down to it, Sabina had _never _forced herself upon him. She'd always been earnest, sweet, exactly what he needed and right when he needed it. He felt sick.

All at once Alex became aware of how fast his breathing was. This was _embarrassing._ A girl was throwing herself at him and he was acting like a ten year old boy who'd never been kissed.

"Look," he croaked before clearing his throat. This couldn't possibly get any worse. At least Other Alex had shut up for a second. He still couldn't look her in the eye. "That's – what I want to say is – thanks for the offer. But I can't right now."

To her credit, Brooke didn't get angry, or start crying. She just frowned, reflecting perplexity. That was fair, he thought, since he was acting like a complete tool. And finally she asked,

"God, Alex, what _happened _to you?"

Sabina's name, which a moment ago had been throbbing in his head as undeniably as his own pulse, began to fade and he was allowed some respite from what he couldn't identify as anything other than a full-blown panic attack.

"I can't talk about it," he admitted. She didn't seem so incredibly hard to look at anymore, and he went back to looking her in the eye. She bit her lip and pushed some of her fringe off her face. Harmless. Nothing like the carnivorous assailant he'd painted her to be a minute earlier.

"Weeks ago we might have been fucking in your room by now. I just offered myself up to you like a sacrificial virgin, for heaven's sake."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, yeah. I just thought… because, you know…"

"What? That it happened before it would happen again?" She knew enough about him to have heard about Sabina. "You know I have a girlfriend, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought you guys were on and off. And as far as I know, you haven't been talking to anyone much other than Tom, let alone her."

Plain and simple, he responded, "Just because I'm not talking to her doesn't mean I'm not in love with her."

She cocked an eyebrow. "So take me home. It might help you figure things out. What good is being in love with someone if you can't even be near them?"

He remembered last time that that's exactly what he'd been trying to do – distract himself from falling into the ever-present Sabina-trap. She'd pulled him in with that intoxicating paradox – he couldn't live with her because the guilt of impending doom was crushing, but living without her was like trying to breathe with one lung. "You don't take no for an answer, do you?"

Brooke was making a fair amount of good points, but he'd learned from experience that it didn't work; fundamentally _couldn't_. He wasn't not having Sabina because he didn't want _her_ specifically. If he was having anyone, it was unquestionably Sabina… if she would take him back, that was. There was still a large question mark underlying that topic – all he'd been thinking about lately was what _he_ wanted, but in truth, he hadn't spoken to Sabina since she was kidnapped in his name. He didn't actually have any realistic figure of what _she_ wanted by the end time he came out of this tunnel of shit.

That being said, he could barely deal with Tom and Wolf at the moment, let alone what Brooke was asking from him. Sex sounded like the biggest recipe for disaster since stitches at Lana's place.

"I just want to make sure you're sure of what it is exactly you're turning down. I don't want to be your girlfriend, Alex."

"Well, I don't want to be your whore. Brooke, I can't. Please understand." He gazed across at her, trying to look as beseeching as possible. Finally she let up, a sigh escaping her lips.

"You suck," she said. "Won't you at least do it for me? Now that Brett's – I mean – I _need_ this, I need _you."_

She knew she was grasping at straws now. "In perfect honesty, it's entirely possible that I'd hurt you if we did."

"I wouldn't mind. It's happened before." She was still in love with whoever this Brett guy was. It was written all over her face. The way her eyes were glazed over, it was hard for him to believe she was really looking at him and not someone else.

"I don't mean hurt your feelings, Brooke. I can't – control myself. Somebody… hurt me recently. And I don't mean hurt my feelings either. My arm and… my hands… Please don't touch me without my permission again."

The thin, dreamlike smile on her face slowly faded, and he could tell she was looking at him with an altered perspective. Perhaps she hadn't really believed it possible that someone else had done this to him rather than the result of some accident or stroke of bad luck. He hoped to every higher power up that that she wasn't going to tell anyone.

"Are you in trouble?" Brooke asked slowly, and Alex examined the way her body language was subtly shifting. Maybe this would be the thing to finally scare her off of him.

"Right at this very second?" He looked from side to side, then down, then up to examine the gray-blue sky. Then he looked back at her. "It doesn't appear so. But hey… tomorrow's a new day. I'm going home, Brooke, and thanks for bringing this back."

He held up the gold cigarette case, sliding one out in the process and leaning down to pluck it from the case with his mouth while his other hand rummaged around in his pockets for a lighter. He didn't remember actually taking it with him when he wrenched his hand away from her, and thought maybe Other Alex intervened, or perhaps it was just the unconscious actions of the nicotine addiction he'd undoubtedly developed.

"Wait. Could I have one of those, before you go?"

He couldn't imagine denying her that. She was working a brutal job, the man she loved had left her and Alex had just denied her the rebound she'd probably spent the last two hours convincing herself would cute her of her newfound abandonment issues.

He handed her the cigarette, but rather than taking it she leaned forward as though asking him to feed it to her the way he'd done for himself. Placing it between her lips, he bathed the end in flame, watching as her face lit up in orange and then fell back to shadow as the cherry flared red below the tip of her nose.

"I've got to go," he said again.

She nodded and smiled. She looked sad.

"If you've ever felt a shred of anything genuine towards me, Brooke, please don't tell anyone about seeing me tonight."

Instead of answering right away, she appeared to think about it. Eventually she said, "Okay. I won't."

"Thank you." Tentatively, he reached out to place a hand on her shoulder and pulled her a step closer to him. Because she was quite a bit smaller than him, he had to lean down in order to kiss her forehead.

"Goodnight."

0o0o0o

* * *

Hello friends,

There is a pattern developing in my scenes with Alex throughout this arc. Have you noticed what it is?

Also. I don't go into scenes with J-unit intending for them to get so gay – it just happens. Maybe it is the high volume of attractive army men hijacking my subconscious with dirty thoughts? Could be.

I'm so sorry for making you all wait so long for an update. It should be noted that this chapter should have been out sooner and was going to be until something very traumatic to any writer occurred. I wrote a full 2k detailing out the dinner scene. It was polished and rewired and sentences had been swapped out for newer, better-flowing replicas. I was so happy that I left for work that day with a smile on my face. When I came back later that evening, that smile was quickly replaced by a look of horror.

You all know the story. "Windows has encountered an unknown error and has unexpectedly shut down."

The look of horror did not come quite then, though. I waited while my computer booted up, mourning for the many tabs I'd had open, but not too worried about the word document. Good old autosave always has my back, right?

Turns out good old autosave is actually a massive asshole who decided to play a very cruel trick on me. See many of the files I'd had open were autosaved. In fact, all but one was. Can you guess which one _wasn't?_

Whenever this happens to me I become overwhelmed with the inability to reopen that word document. It is one thing to rewrite during revision, but doing the whole thing over again – especially when you were so happy with the original outcome – is like trying to replace your dead baby by immediately getting pregnant again.

… Well no it isn't, but you get the gist. I end up trying to remember really great lines I churned out the first time and simply butchering them with my desperate memory-scraping. I have a terrible memory to be honest, it's largely the reason I write so much. But anyway, it was all very dramatic and I was on the floor for probably over twenty minutes, lamenting the gods of Microsoft Word and crying up to the sky great tragic wails of "WHY ME?" That is my excuse for being late and I'm sticking to it.

That and I've been so damn busy as of late… I worked two jobs all summer saving for my backpacking trip, which I'm sorry to tell you all I fly out for on September 25th… which means no update until possibly the New Year. I'M SORRY! I get back December 8th so we'll see, but… well, you know how backpacking is. Not a lot of fanfiction gets written when you're backpacking. That's just the way of things. I tried to compensate for that by making this chapter extra big, so here is a solid 12k for you all.

I wrote a very large portion of this chapter tonight and it's too late for me to really thoroughly and accurately spell check to catch all the errors so if you spot any please let me know in a review and I'll try and go back to correct them later. I really wanna publish this one tonight so if you guys could help me out that'd be great!

That and… PLEASE LET ME REACH 1000 REVIEWS WITH THIS CHAPTER! I'D BE THE HAPPIEST AUTHOR IN THE WORLD! It would be the most perfect going away present ever :'D please please please leave a review for me, it would make all the difference in the world for me to hear from you!

If I don't speak to any of you again before then, I'd like to wish you all a very productive, sweater-filled fall and a happy Halloween/Thanksgiving in advance!

Farewell!

**Next chapter:** I don't know yet, sorry guys.


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